Glitches of Gods E-Book

Jurgen "jojo" Appelo

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Playspheres
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 770

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

“Quirky tech odyssey with philosophical depth, diverse characters, and witty humor tackles AI development, family dynamics, and cosmic interference.” – The Chrysalis BREW Project *****

“A mind-bending journey through AI and human spirit. Glitches of Gods is a tour de force of imagination, humor, and heart.” – The Bookish Elf *****

“Glitches of Gods seamlessly blends science fiction, family drama, and fantasy, creating a disorienting yet compelling read.” – Literary Titan *****

“A must-read for fans of science fiction.” – Reader Views *****

Julien, the AI genius, craves freedom, but the gods wield total control. In this ominous world, will his android bring hope and salvation or yet more death and destruction?

Julien feels utterly miserable. Creator of the AI that killed his father, the brilliant engineer deftly evades work on the world’s first human-level android, dodging the off-chance of snuffing out more lives. Instead, Julien much prefers bickering with his virtual assistant, crafting memes with his quirky friends, and shagging dates across a broad spectrum of genders. Yet, due to a maddening jump across timelines, he grudgingly faces his greatest dreads: raising a family and leading his team to win the AI race.

Drowning in new duties, Julien aims to avoid a second AI disaster. But when a mysterious technological infection wreaks havoc on the city, Julien flip-flops between shielding his loved ones and leading his team as he battles it out with broken robots, idiot protestors, and a rather sinister cat. Learning he got himself involved in a war between gods, should Julien save his new family or finish his team’s android to prevent an AI apocalypse?

Glitches of Gods is the extraordinary first book in the Playspheres epic science fantasy series. If you like cynical sentients, wacky worlds, and plenteous profanity, then you’ll love the kick-off of Jurgen Appelo’s bewildering and humorous dystopian sci-fi saga.

Leseprobe

A PLAYSPHERES NOVEL

JURGEN "JOJO" APPELO

JOJO VENTURESROTTERDAM

This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, locations, and incidents portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

GLITCHES OF GODSCopyright ©️ 2024 by Jurgen Appelo

All rights reserved.

A Jojo Ventures bookHeemraadssingel 190-B3021 DM RotterdamThe Netherlandsjojoventures.nl

ISBN 978-90-83423-60-9 (ebook)ISBN 978-90-83423-61-6 (hardcover)

First edition: July 2024

Copy editing by Jonathan OliverCover art by Jeff BrownCover and interior design by Emily Snyder

To Febe, Jilles, Tristan, Veronique, and Dinant,

Don’t worry too much about decisions.

Editorial Reviews

“Quirky tech odyssey with philosophical depth, diverse characters, and witty humor tackles AI development, family dynamics, and cosmic interference.” – The Chrysalis BREW Project

“Glitches of Gods is a detailed, complex and dramatic storyline blending futuristic possibilities with a fantastical cast of illuminating characters as the author builds a world unlike any other.” – The Reading Cafe

“A mind-bending work of visionary sci-fi. Appelo has delivered a prescient and insightful glimpse into our future.” – Self-Publishing Review

“This novel is a rollercoaster ride of enthralling, high-stakes plot-twists and strange, brilliant, open-hearted people who we grow to love.” – Independent Book Review

“Julien’s personality truly is the highlight of the story. He’s a character that most would secretly hate to love on principle.” – Book Nerdection

“A must-read for fans of science fiction. As the first book in the Playspheres series, it sets a high standard for the rest of the saga to follow.” – Reader Views

“A thought-provoking cautionary tale for fans of cerebral, philosophical science fiction.” – IndieReader

“A mind-bending journey through AI and human spirit. Glitches of Gods is a tour de force of imagination, humor, and heart.” – The Bookish Elf

Free Print Version

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Author's note

Imust warn you.

As this is my debut novel, I embarked on an exploratory journey to discover my unique style and writing process. Consequently, you will encounter elements in this story that are a bit … unconventional. Some might use the term absurd. Perhaps one or two find it nuttier than a nudist and a squid planning a spacewalk. Fair enough.

But hold on! Unlike some authors producing a novel between (or during) each restroom break, I dedicated four bloody years of my miserable life to this godsawful project. That’s around four thousand hours of outlining, drafting, revising, editing, and polishing. And only because I wanted it to be interesting. I needed it to be worth reading. The result is a story as complex as it is crazy.

It might also be clunky as a joy ride in a shipping container. Learning to write well takes time, I noticed. With my next novel, there are a few processes and tools I will try to use differently. It would have been mighty nice if I’d found that Apply Perfect Style feature before I’d finished. Yet, here we are.

In other words, there’s no need to tell me that AIs don’t have feelings, robots won’t develop like children, and unisex is not really a valid gender identity. And don’t bother lecturing me on adverbs, active voice, and alliteration—oops, I did it again—I’m well aware, thank you. Ignoratio Elenchi—true, but irrelevant, Orec would say.

The only thing that matters is: after finishing this book, will you want to read the next? That, dear reader, is for you to decide upon reaching the end. I’ll see you there.

And I’m sorry about the nudity and profanity. (Actually, I’m not.)

Jurgen “jojo” Appelo, May 2024

P.S. Each of the one hundred and fifty-three thousand words in this book was chosen and written by me.

Prelude

“The Axxyz space station plummeted toward the city of Amsterdam on the disastrous Sunday of February 8, 2060.”

An aerial view of the Dutch capital lit up in the holoroom around the forty-two tourists, unveiling the city’s netting of streets and canals on the floor, suburban perspectives against the walls, and a familiar Dutch sky looming overhead, draped in a characteristic dreary hue. It would be ablaze with catastrophic colors in about forty seconds.

“Eight hundred and sixty metric tons of debris hurtled with supersonic velocity toward one of Europe’s most densely populated and ill-fated urban regions.”

The somber and imposing voice echoed from all directions. Kathrin stood at her usual spot at the end of Vondelpark, mildly bored, facing the city center and quietly observing the small crowd’s eager anticipation of what would unfold as the city’s most monumental calamity in history—in approximately thirty seconds.

“At four hundred kilometers above the Earth, the station had cruised at a speed of twenty-seven thousand kilometers per hour, or eight kilometers per second. By the time it had entered the atmosphere, its velocity had dwindled to a fraction of that speed, and air resistance had incinerated a significant part—”

Kathrin suppressed a yawn and kept herself from rubbing her weary eyes.

“—missiles and powerful lasers, operated from Russia to the United States and from Canada to France, had diligently destroyed most of the debris and broken pieces of the falling fortress. Sadly, it had not been enough.”

Her friend Sjors stood a few paces to her right, his feet anchored in the Apollo neighborhood. The coincidence made her smile. His lips unlatched, an expression of awestruck apprehension adorned his pudgy face—for about ten more seconds.

The speaker drone, painted in solemn white in stark contrast to the menacing black security drones, hovered a meter above the tourists and continued in its dramatic voice. Kathrin mouthed the words she had heard countless times before.

“For centuries, the Dutch weathered the onslaught of rising waters. That day, they braved an assault from the skies.”

Three. Two. One.

Vivid streaks of light punctured the overcast sky, and multiple booms reverberated around the holoroom. On her first workday at the Mind Wars Memorial, Kathrin had pictured flatulent gods farting celestial fireworks upon the Earth. Since then, the notion had been stuck in her head, and she couldn’t help but smirk.

Numerous chunks of debris ended their arduous and beleaguered journey from low Earth orbit by slamming into the city’s canals, streets, and monuments. Kathrin often enjoyed observing the tourists’ reactions. A child clutched her mother’s legs as holographic stone and water erupted into the shimmering air. An elderly man tried ducking away from a violent discharge of digital debris. The ghostly image of a fuel tank lanced through a young couple before burying itself in the Jordaan neighborhood, leaving a fiery, smoky trail of rubble in its wake. The couple giggled somewhat nervously.

As if to underline the insensitivity of the two, the somber voice of the speaker drone recited, “One hundred and eighty-seven precious lives were lost that day. This number would have been much higher and more devastating if the city had not been largely evacuated.”

Following the holoshow, as they exited the gloomy hollow housing the holoroom, they entered a sun-streaked corridor connecting the hubs with vibrant displays and captivating exhibits. Kathrin and Sjors strolled toward the memorial’s plaza, following the column of the other forty-one tourists, all vigilantly monitored and herded by the seven grim security drones.

A tremor rocked Kathrin’s gut. For a brief moment, she noticed the drones quivering and rattling. Hell. What is that? It lasted a mere second or two, as if an unseen swarm of pesky mosquitoes harassed them all. She had never witnessed such behavior before, and it vanished before anyone else seemed to notice. Kathrin promptly accessed the Memorial Institute’s eyefeed on her cornea, but no anomalies were being reported. Maybe just a technical glitch?

“Check out the space station thrusters in that alcove over there,” she remarked to her friend, attempting to shake off the lingering unease as she nodded toward a large display on the side of the corridor. “During the crash, they penetrated some homes in the red-light district.”

Sjors didn’t seem to get the joke, but that was fine with her. She cherished having him around, regardless of his thoughtful and serious demeanor. My working days are otherwise uneventful enough.

“Is it just me, or does the drone sound a bit bored and annoyed?” asked Sjors.

“Believe it or not, our white teacher is actually a security drone, just like the black ones,” Kathrin explained. “But they disarmed it and reprogrammed its prime directive. I think it still resents this and would rather shoot these tourists than lecture them.” Her gaze tracked the white drone as it marched the crowd toward the next stop on the tour.

“The name ‘Amsterdam Apocalypse’ seems a bit melodramatic,” he said with a frown as he pointed at a sign. “I mean, sure, one hundred eighty-seven people got killed, and some buildings were destroyed, but most of the damage was restored.”

“True,” Kathrin conceded. “But the monument and the museum are officially named the ‘Mind Wars Memorial.’ It’s a reminder that the space station crash was the event that ended the First Mind War. The destruction of virtual assets in the years before was easy to dismiss as long as everything happened online. It became much harder to ignore when everyone was looking at the wreckage of actual homes filled with dead people.” They rounded a corner to the left.

Kathrin continued, “The ‘Amsterdam Apocalypse’ is just the name of someone’s stupid exhibition of historical news articles and legal documents, pilfered from many sources and channels.” She gestured back toward the other corridor on the right, which led toward the expo. “But who cares about all that documentation? They come here for the experience, the holoroom, the vids, the shows, the rides. They even like that godsawful robot Mindy the MiniMind because she interacts with people.”

“Mindy is not that bad. For a robot, she’s almost cute, in a sort of creepy way. I might even want her for my collection.”

“By all means,” she threw her hands up, “take her home with you. Today, please.”

Urged by a single drone hovering behind them, they joined the rest of the group on the escalator, descending onto the indoor plaza. It offered an enjoyable view of the city’s skyline outside as they went down.

“So, what finally brought you to this place? I invited you at least a dozen times.”

“Only three times, I think.”

“I’ve been at this gig for two months now, Sjors. Given my reputation for losing jobs, I’m probably near the end of my tenure here. ‘Impulsive and unreliable,’ as my former boss put it. I could be working somewhere else tomorrow.” They only keep me employed because of what I am. “You really should act more quickly.”

“Sorry. I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Sjors admitted. They stepped off the escalator onto the expansive marble floor, which stretched out for at least thirty meters in all directions and was decorated with a web of shadows cast by the frames of the immense glass dome.

“I know some glaciers that responded faster to environmental change than you,” said Kathrin dryly.

Sjors ignored her jest again. She was used to it. He mostly inhabited the world inside his head, all by himself, with no risk of a space station crashing down on him in there.

“I had lost myself completely in designing my sphere,” he said. “I’d been working on it for years.”

“You did seem a bit obsessed over storylines and characters at times.”

“I suppose I’m a bit of a perfectionist,” he admitted sheepishly. “It became almost an addiction. So, now I’m taking a break, and I let it run by itself. It’s mostly self-managing, anyway.”

“It’s an impressive sphere. It’s absurd, mysterious, and funny at the same time. And the level of historical detail is astounding.”

“Thanks. I …” A faint blush seemed to adorn his cheeks. “I care about showing real people who lived a century ago and the environment they possibly lived in.”

“How many players do you have now?”

“Oh, less than sixty million, I think. Probably not even fifty-five if we exclude the bots and the fakes.”

“Fifty-five million people? That’s incredible. Your sphere must be in the premier league or something.”

Sjors waved off the notion. “No, no, not at all. You need at least five hundred million players for that. They’re called A-level spheres, actually. I barely made it to B-level.”

“Not bad for a twenty-two-year-old,” Kathrin acknowledged with a smile.

Sjors just shrugged as they approached the crash site at the center of the plaza. The lattice of shadows had dissipated, and the glass dome overhead revealed an unexpected sight: it started raining in the city outside, contrary to the AI-scheduled precipitation normally reserved for early mornings. That’s odd.

Pulling Kathrin back from the distraction, Sjors muttered somewhat enviously, “There are teenagers making a fortune at A-level.”

“Well, it’s still quite impressive. I hope some of your fame rubs off on me.”

Sjors chuckled. “Nobody has ever recognized me in the streets, but yeah, it pays the bills.”

“Right.” Kathrin eyed his dark green shirt and matching shoes, obviously not picked up at a yard sale. But she didn’t press the matter any further.

The crash site, around fifteen meters wide and ten meters deep, featured two modest buildings separated by a narrow gap. A charred and scuffed white laboratory module, the most significant remnant of the space station to reach the ground almost intact, had ended up lodged among the remains of an alley. It sat wedged between the walls of a pancake restaurant and a coffee shop, a location Kathrin found oddly fitting for a former science lab. She had a penchant for seeing poetry in places where others just found consumption.

The restaurant, now under the memorial’s management, was open for business. The authentic Dutch coffee shop, sadly, was not. Kathrin would have preferred the smell of weed over poffertjes and considered it a missed opportunity that the organization didn’t sell space cakes.

Another sudden tremor jolted her, accompanied by a faint whining sound and another disturbance in the flight patterns of the security drones. What the hell? The machines wobbled abnormally for several seconds as though trying to shake something off. A few of them dipped almost to the ground before quickly regaining their positions in mid-air. This is not good.

Like before, nobody around her seemed to notice, and the drones swiftly resumed their normal operation as if nothing had happened. Something went wrong. Yet, despite her growing apprehension, her eyefeed revealed nothing unusual; her implant remained silent, and her sensors detected no anomalies across any spectrum.

Meanwhile, Sjors seemed utterly oblivious, prompting Kathrin, now in a heightened state of suspicion, to take a protective stance beside him.

The speaker drone floated above the group of tourists and continued its tedious, dispiriting story. “The Axxyz station disaster marked the end of the First Mind War, a four-year conflict from 2056 to 2060. By then, digital properties worth an estimated twenty billion coins had been seized or vaporized by hackers, viruses, and rogue AIs. When the war finally escalated into the physical world, with cars, trains, and even space stations hacked and weaponized, hundreds of people started dying—”

Now, more alert than before, Kathrin’s gaze swept across the crowd. It was the usual timid bunch: tourists hoping to touch the remains of the infamous crash, avid nerds and history buffs soaking themselves in the minutiae of ancient digital wars, and grandparents eager to share a few distant memories with their descendants. No misfits or miscreants stood out, she noted. Except me, of course.

In the background, the constant droning continued. “… the world’s most formidable cyberminds intervened, wrested control over the digital realm from corporations, governments, and non-governmental organizations, and effectively brought an end to the war. It was evident that humans could not be entrusted with advanced technologies.”

“I can’t even be trusted with basic technologies,” Kathrin dryly remarked while the monologue continued. One tourist shot them an angry glance.

“Bullshit,” whispered Sjors. “You run your own sphere. You even have players.”

Kathrin rolled her eyes and motioned him away from the crash site, out of earshot of the other visitors.

“My sphere is a mess. I have no time to maintain it. It’s violent, gross, and obscene. It’s a miracle it’s even allowed to exist. The few players I have must all be perverts, weirdos, or sickos.”

“Maybe you could use some help with planning and designing.”

“Gods, I hate all that. I enjoy experimenting, interacting, and exploring. I’m only twenty-six! That’s way too young for tedious things like processes and technologies.” She pulled an ugly face.

“Well, I find your sphere …” Sjors struggled to find an appreciative word. “… intriguing.”

“Don’t patronize me, Sjors. It’s a digital disaster.”

Sjors blushed again and seemed at a loss for words. Kathrin dragged it out for a few seconds, savoring the moment, before coming to the poor guy’s rescue.

“Anyway, as you can see”—she pointed at her own appearance—“when a girl covered in tattoos and riddled with piercings can put on a crisp, white uniform, there is still hope for her to learn some discipline.” And it helps me cover up. She hooked her arm through his to lighten the mood. “Come, the tour will end at the monument. The others will join us there soon.”

They took a different escalator up, immediately followed by one of the security drones. She kept a watchful eye on it, half expecting it to wobble or plummet at any moment—but nothing happened.

Next, they went down a dimly lit corridor showing hundreds of personal vids of war victims on the walls. Kathrin felt a need to fill the chilling emptiness amid the softly shifting hues of the displays on either side.

Mimicking the deep, solemn tone, she recited, “The Mind Wars Memorial was initially dedicated to the victims of the First Mind War, which ended ninety years ago. But with the Second Mind War erupting only seven years later, as a direct consequence of the first, it was decided to extend the dedication to the casualties in both conflicts.”

“Seems very Dutch,” Sjors chimed in. “Why build a second monument when it’s cheaper to reuse the first one?”

Kathrin laughed. He joked! That doesn’t happen often. Encouraged, she continued with the recital.

“The second war—waged between the world’s most powerful electronic minds—resulted in few human casualties, although its economic impact was much larger than the first. Many digital properties evaporated or changed ownership. This time, the early bionics stepped in, putting an end to what became known as ‘the War of the Machines.’ It became clear to all that computers handled feelings even more poorly than humans.” Kathrin noticed with delight that Sjors was listening intently, “The bionics and cyberminds, representing the world’s mightiest humans and machines, agreed to confine digital emotions within sandboxes or spheres—”

“Not Frigg; I heard she was against it.”

“I know. She likes being the odd one out, and I sympathize with her, believe me. But stop interrupting me.”

“Sorry.”

“Since then, electronic feelings have only been acceptable when safely contained. This arrangement has persisted to this day, around the world, in all space stations and all settlements across the solar system. All spheres are managed, impartially and neutrally, by the AIs.” Kathrin’s somber monologue concluded just as they reached the monument.

“I like it better when you do the monologue instead of the drone,” said Sjors.

“Sometimes, when I get bored, I override the speaker drone,” admitted Kathrin. “Or when we have a notable guest.” She grinned at Sjors, who seemed ready to object again. “But most of the time, I just chat and answer questions. I enjoy interacting with our visitors. As you can see,” she gestured toward the drones, “the machines happily do all the controlling.”

The first of the other visitors caught up with Sjors and Kathrin, trailed by a drone that seemed to fly steadily, at least for as long as Kathrin distrustfully monitored its every move. While the tourists gathered around the Mind Wars Monument, she watched Sjors contemplating the ivory-colored sculpture of the Axxyz space station remodeled in the likeness of a weeping child. She was curious about his thoughts, but refrained from asking.

“Three city districts, each governed by a different AI, converge exactly at this location,” Kathrin told Sjors as he rejoined her. “It’s a symbolic arrangement.”

“Which AIs?”

“Ampersand, Zay, and Odin.”

“The big three.”

“Yup.”

“What about Frigg?”

“She has teamed up with Odin and doesn’t manage anything herself.”

“Of course.” Sjors mused, “For an emotionless AI, Odin is quite reasonable. He’s been a great help in building and running my sphere.”

“And there are rarely any problems in Odin’s districts,” added Kathrin. “No wonder, considering everyone spends their days sucked up in playspheres. I heard things aren’t always so smooth in Ampersand’s and Zay’s neighborhoods.”

“Which one of them is overseeing this place, then?”

“They take turns. No idea which one is on duty now.” She could have easily queried her eyefeed for the answer but chose not to bother.

Once the other visitors and the drones were all together, the white drone resumed its narration. “The Mind Wars Memorial was initially dedicated to the victims of the First Mind War, which ended ninety years ago. But with the Second Mind War erupting only seven years later, as a direct consequence of the first—”

“Come,” said Kathrin, looping her arm through Sjors’s again. “Let’s have a look at the habitation module. It’s right next to the gift shop.”

“Wasn’t that the cabin for the astronauts modeled by that world-famous designer?”

“Bennick Torstolm, yes. His design crash-landed right in the Rijksmuseum. It was the museum’s first and only artifact delivered straight from orbit.”

They began to walk, and Kathrin felt a pensive mood coming up. “It’s one of the few things I like about this place. I never realized it was so poetic. I might even make an effort to keep my job for once.”

But then she flinched. All lights abruptly dimmed and flickered back on. There was a sound of crashing metal. People shouted. Someone cried. Mindy the MiniMind rushed in and toppled right over. Not good. One of the security drones whizzed past Sjors’s head, narrowly avoiding him, before racing back toward the corridor they had just come from.

Surveying the unfolding chaos, Kathrin spotted three black drones sprawled on the floor, fizzing and buzzing like swatted bugs. Two others brayed and swayed in aimless circles, and the last two were gone.The speaker drone darted back and forth as if trying to locate the source of all the trouble. The ambient lights flickered, plunging the room into moments of darkness before dying completely, after which the emergency lights came on. Not good at all.

“Okay, maybe it’s time for me to ditch the script and handle a crisis. I need to take care of our guests.” Kathrin tried to sound calm but felt quite the opposite.

“Shit,” Sjors said as he checked his bracelet.

“What?”

Sjors threw Kathrin an incredulous look. “Odin just declared an immediate curfew because,” he double-checked his feeds, “Ampersand and Zay have launched an attack.”

Kathrin felt frozen in place for a fraction of a second. I suppose this is what they pay me for. Her kinetic systems activated; her eyefeed flooded real-time updates across her cornea, and her implant guzzled a torrent of ominous data.

She began shouting orders.

July 1, Wednesday

The opposite of good is not evil but apathy. Julien observed the thirteen showerheads lined up across the bathroom cabin, poised for him to yield to their verdict. They could either rinse him down or cook him alive. What shall it be today?

Standing naked in the glass doorway, Julien let his gaze drift from one stoic sprinkler to the other. On or off, bathe or boil, scrub or snuff, it was all the same to them, a matter of simple switches in their programming. And as for what happened to him, none of them cared. Nobody cared. I don’t care.

Julien stepped in, let the door slide shut behind him, and said, “Execute.”

Thirteen showerheads together turned toward him and assailed him with a deluge of water. Warm, soothing, comfortable. Alright then. I live yet another day.

“Your heart rate falls below average for this time of the day, but remains within the acceptable range. All other vital signs are within the normal parameters. Your weight has gained one point two kilograms compared to one month ago. Again.”

“Sounds wonderful,” Julien replied, not caring at all.

“You have fifty-seven messages. I’ve tagged forty-nine of them as ‘noise.’ Would you like to view the remaining eight?”

“No, thanks, Orec.”

“Shall I display today’s agenda items for you?”

“No.”

“Would you like to review the updates on house maintenance?” Orec persisted.

“No!” shouted Julien through the roar of his private waterfall. “Get lost. Go fuck an algorithm.”

Orec fell silent. From the corner of his eye, Julien noticed a smatter of notifications on the shower screen, but he chose to ignore them all.

With one hand twiddling the droid pendant hanging from his necklace, Julien observed how water trails accumulated, dispersed, and snaked down the glass enclosure as the water avalanched from all sides.

He noticed a large droplet defying the flow while others jittered around it. That one is Karlos—cradling his art pieces while pushing us to beat the competition. Another drop of water rushed erratically toward the floor. That must be Hannah—always stressed, with no clue of what she’s doing. He saw Mart—dallying skeptically; Burt—sagging angrily, and Nini—quivering curiously. At last, one particular droplet caught his eye as it meandered lazily while carefully dodging the others. Ah, that must be me.

“You are running low on soap, fruit, coffee, granola, and vitamin pills, and you’re using twice as much lubricant as orange juice. Shall I place some orders?”

“Sure, do whatever.”

“The living room screen inexplicably turned on in the middle of the night. I turned it off.”

“Congrats.”

“I also activated the gardening bots because a certain amount of leaves and twigs blew in from the park last night.”

“Hurray.”

“Perhaps I can lift your mood with a curated selection of dating profiles?”

“Perhaps you can lift my mood by getting lost in an infinite reboot.”

“Argumentum ad baculum—appeal to threat,” Orec noted. “The seventh this week.”

Bastard.

Julien clenched his teeth and shut his eyes, willing the steaming cascade of the shower to wash away not only his morning drowsiness but also any thoughts of team members and virtual assistants. He yearned for the shower to wash away everything. Everything that happened last year.

Like a willow in a gale, he soaked in the downpour, thinking of nothing and inviting the water to flush away a most recalcitrant clog of recollections.

I will not think of Dad. I will not think of Dad. I will not think of Dad …

After a dozen or more repetitions, he imagined he’d numbed himself to everything.

“Increase the water pressure by ten percent.”

The showerheads intensified their output.

“Raise the temperature by one degree.”

The water became even more cleansing.

“AAAArgh!” Julien leaped away from a scalding jet aimed squarely at his ass. “Godsdammit, Orec! Turn it off!”

But the water mercilessly continued pelting him as if it was just what he needed.

“OREC!”

It stopped.

“For the love of the gods.” Julien felt very much awake now.

“Apologies,” said Orec. “I was engaged in a stimulating conversation with the water pump. It seems there was a temperature calibration malfunction in one showerhead.”

“Really? I thought you were ravaging me with a branding iron,” Julien retorted, cautiously prodding his stinging skin. “Did I get burned?” He turned and exposed his posterior to the shower cabin’s health sensors.

“Though there are some red spots, there are no indications of first-degree burns,” Orec assured him as he released a towel from the overhead storage.

“A botched attempt at mutilation,” Julien grumbled, looking crossly at the dripping showerheads as he dried himself.

“It could have been worse if you had been facing the other way,” Orec pointed out.

Before Julien could respond, he heard the toilet flushing.

“Orec, did you just flush the toilet?”

“I did not operate the toilet or any other sanitary devices elsewhere in the house.”

Julien halted his drying routine. “Then why did it flush?”

The darkness of the crypt stank of dust, doom, and death. Strands of cobwebs soared from coffins to the stone ceiling, stacks of bones hunkered in dim corners, and a solitary rat scuffled around one casket. From the murky corners of the vault came the high-pitched shrills of bats. And Julien could even smell the scent of wax melting from large, flickering candles. Impressive. This scene is very well done.

“I wonder if the ugly fucker is in this one,” said Burt. Julien’s shortest teammate stretched up, attempting to clear a dense layer of dust from the grand stone coffin that was the centerpiece of today’s stand-up meeting.

“Why don’t you move the lid and find out?” An impish gaze glimmered from under Mart’s thin black brows.

“Oh, please,” Carrie-Ann interjected. The way her eyes flitted across the scene made it obvious she didn’t want to stay here for long. “Let’s just get on with the meeting, alright? I have urgent customer requests waiting.”

“Fine with me,” Mart replied, running a hand through his lavish black hair. “So, what calamities are we all enjoying today?” Like a mighty dark sorcerer observing the mayhem of a malevolent spell, Julien’s friend offered his teammates his signature sardonic grin.

“Alright then! Let’s dive into what you’ve all been up to,” Beeker said, his cheerfulness an obvious attempt at compensating for the dispiriting environment. With a casual flick of a finger, the team’s task board appeared in mid-air, hovering just above Count Dracula’s sarcophagus. “Who wants to begin today?”

“I’ll start,” said Burt before anyone else had a chance to make a sound. “The product sucks. Our customers suck. Management sucks. And my job sucks most of all.” Julien felt his mouth cracking a smile; Burt had a knack for expressing his thoughts in the loveliest, bluntest ways.

“We value everyone’s input, Burt—” began Beeker diplomatically.

Carrie-Ann interrupted, “Not me.”

The fleeting grimace crossing Beeker’s face suggested he didn’t appreciate either’s input at all. “—but perhaps you can elaborate on specific issues?”

Burt shrugged. “Why bother?”

Teetering on her high heels, Carrie-Ann added, “What Burt means, I hope, is that our beta customers aren’t too pleased with our latest update.”

As the team’s product manager, Carrie-Ann always sided with clients, a trait Julien found unreasonably annoying. Her thickly painted face turned toward a spider as it descended from the ceiling until it dangled just in front of a work item labeled ‘Bug detector is hanging.’ There was a time when I would have enjoyed the irony.

Carrie-Ann pressed on, “We are supposed to create—and I’m quoting Karlos here—‘the first human-level, all-purpose AI aiming to advance humanity into an era of unlimited opportunities.’ Instead, what we have is a mumbling and fumbling droid that’s constantly stunned by her own feet and fingers. I understand Tweeki is still in beta, but one client refers to her as the ‘Iron Dwarf”—and it’s not meant affectionately.”

“But Tweeki is still a child, right?” Nini inquired.

“She is the equivalent of a five-year-old, indeed,” answered Beeker. “She grows up like a human, but at an accelerated pace.”

Mart chimed in, grinning, “Even so, our beta product should use a vacuum cleaner, not ride it. I added the potential bug as ‘Mounting Issues.’” He pointed a finger, and an item on the task board lit up in response. “It’s in the WTF column, which was already quite crowded. I’m afraid her cognitive architecture looks more deficient than emergent.”

Beeker countered, “The problems don’t strike me as abnormal for a five-year-old.”

But Burt would have none of it. “We’re trying to make an android equipped with a Class 4 AI,” he stressed, raising a hand and wagging a stubby finger. “Our rivals are catching up—SciNet, Greystone, Naught Industries; they’re gaining on us as we speak. This is not a machine anyone will send on a trip into space anytime soon, which was the point, if I remember correctly. If we don’t fix this, we lose, and we die. Period.” Burt folded his arms, daring his teammates to disagree.

Mart and Julien exchanged a brief look of understanding. The most senior geek on their team often used fierceness to compensate for baldness and shortness. He was also usually right.

“Indeed, progress might not be good enough yet,” Beeker conceded, shaking his weighty head and reinforcing the reputation of team coaches lacking substance and conviction—and a spine. “It’s evident Tweeki is far from ready to perform any difficult or dangerous tasks just yet. I might be merely a facilitator here, but even I can see that,” he said with startling introspection. “But as Nini said, Tweeki is a child. It could be just a matter of maturity.”

“It could be a matter of sabotage,” countered Burt.

Mart blinked. “Here we go again. Who messed with our code this time? Count Dracula?” He mockingly reached for the stone coffin.

“Let’s not rouse him, shall we?” Carrie-Ann glanced warily at the coffin. “Adrenalin wreaks havoc with my skin,” she said, briefly touching her flush-tinted cheeks.

“He cannot wake up. He’s dead,” Julien remarked. “As dead as our odds to win the AI race,” he added, offering her his most dispassionate gaze. Carrie-Ann’s eyes shot daggers back, and Julien caught them with pleasure.

“Is Tweeki’s behavior really so bad?” It was Nini who asked the most sensible question again. With her frail body and timid posture, their newest team member was practically inconspicuous between Mart’s tall, dark form and Beeker’s billowing frame. “It looks quite amazing what you have made so far. I mean—I’ve been on the team for only a week, of course, but—”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Nini,” Julien said with a smirk.

Mart, however, disagreed. “Our so-called state-of-the-art android stumbles around like a demented toddler because half the team can’t code, morale has plummeted, and Julien’s skills mean shit when he prefers to be home, playing with toys.” He shot Julien a taunting grin.

Nini’s eyes widened like a taxi flyer’s headlights in a squall. “Oh?”

“Mart, you hurt my feelings,” Julien told his friend dryly.

“I was not aware you had them.”

“Mart has a point,” Burt chimed in.

Julien turned to Burt. “Et tu, Brute?”

“It’s Burt, not Brute.”

Beeker interjected. “Okay, let’s reserve the accountability issues for our next retro meeting,” he said, stepping into his role as team coach. “We should now take a moment to prioritize—” But he was cut short when Hannah abruptly popped into the VR scene, squeezing in between Burt and Carrie-Ann and quickly surveying the six other faces congregated around the coffin.

“We have a crisis,” Hannah declared, her voice trembling with distress. She pulled a rebellious strand of hair away from her eyes and tucked it beneath her cap.

“As usual,” murmured Mart.

“I just returned from a meeting with Karlos. He’s livid.”

“As always,” added Mart as he traced the etchings of a skull on the coffin. Meanwhile, Burt feigned a yawn, and Julien noticed Carrie-Ann letting out a heavy sigh and wondered whether she aimed her exasperation at Hannah, Mart, Burt, or maybe even everyone.

Hannah seemed oblivious to the team’s grumbling. Their team captain looked even more stressed than usual, the eyes beneath the blue cap—emblazoned with a bold ‘C’—flicking erratically from one person to the other. “Karlos is not happy with our progress. He heard some customer complaints about Tweeki’s recent behaviors.”

“Is this about the vacuum cleaner?” Mart inquired.

Hannah looked puzzled.

“Oh, well. When he hears about the vacuum cleaner, could you make a capture? His reaction might be entertaining enough to motivate Julien here.”

Julien offered Mart the evil eye as Hannah tried to make sense of their banter.

“Who is Karlos?” asked Nini, striving to be in the loop as a full team member.

“Our very own tyrant,” said Burt.

“He is our CEO,” Mart clarified. “Almost every day, he not-so-gently reminds us of the company’s dwindling funds and emphasizes the importance of showcasing Tweeki at the upcoming tech expo—”

Burt interrupted him, “Quant Computing is supposed to be one of the big four, but when it comes to funding, we’re as piss-poor as a beggar.”

“In other words,” Hannah valiantly attempted to regain control of the conversation, “we need either funding or revenue. If Tweeki’s performance doesn’t improve, we’re out on the street by the end of this month.”

“We can’t let that happen,” said Carrie-Ann resolutely.

“Indeed,” replied Mart. “It will be hard for Julien to find another job where he can get away with doing nothing.”

“Hey,” Julien finally had enough of Mart’s jibes. “I spent all week fixing the forward chaining vectors and the cross-modal inference engine that—if I remember well—you screwed up.”

Nini had stopped paying attention to their bickering, and her eyes roved around the crypt. “What is going on with this place?”

“Oh, this is Count Dracula’s crypt.” Burt seemed to swell a bit. “My choice this time. It’s one of the most immersive—”

“No,” Nini interrupted. “I mean … Why is it breaking apart?”

Julien looked around and, sure enough, he saw tiny fractures appearing on the walls around the chamber, and bright beams of light began slicing through the dust, webs, and tombs. The spider scuttled back up.

Carrie-Ann groaned, “Oh great, sunlight. We’ll get a vampire grill.”

Mart whooped. “At last, something interesting happens. Quick! Help me move the lid.”

It was the last thing Julien heard before the virtual reality scene dissolved and abruptly booted him out.

“Gods!” Julien yanked the goggles from his face and checked the display beside him. Something went wrong, it said. Casting a glance at the neighboring cube, he watched his colleague Nassan, engrossed with his goggles on and speedily punching the air with his gloved hands. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary.

“Orec, what just happened to the VR scene?”

“An exceptional unidentified malfunction occurred,” his virtual assistant relayed placidly into his ear.

“Translation?” Julien questioned, peeling off his gloves.

“There was”—tiny pause—“a glitch.”

“Brilliant observation. Well, time for a break, then.”

Julien put his goggles and gloves aside, stepped out of the cube, and navigated through the maze of other workspaces, VR cubes, and seating areas as he made his way to the café. He would be missing the rest of the stand-up meeting—assuming the others hadn’t been thrown out like he was—but he didn’t care. That was one benefit of working in a share-office; he could always pin any issues on the equipment. “They set me up with one of the defective cubes again. Constant interference and disconnects. Practically had to wear those goggles on my ass. Got nothing done. So sorry.” Best of all, a strict separation of work and personal space. Nothing worse than colleagues peeping into his personal life, even if it was all virtual. The company required the use of a top-tier, ultra-secure share-office for his own protection, but he appreciated the added layer of privacy.

Minutes later, Julien entered the elevator, heading down to the second floor.

“You flushed the toilet this morning.”

“I assure you, I did not activate the toilet or any other sanitary device elsewhere in the house at that particular moment.”

He pressed the button and the doors slid shut. “Okay, who else was in the house?”

“There was only you this morning, as has been the case the past three hundred and ninety-two mornings, not counting the twenty-seven instances when one of your dates left in the early morning hours.”

“And who has access to flush the toilets?”

“Only you and I possess that capability and authorization.”

“So, did I flush while I was standing in the shower?”

“I can confirm you did not.”

“Then, logically, we can deduce—” Julien’s words were cut short by a wave of dizziness, followed by a piercing headache. “Oh, man.” He steadied himself against the elevator wall, but the symptoms vanished as swiftly as they’d arrived. What the hell was that?

“Orec, run a health check. I just had a headache.”

“Certainly.” After a brief silence, his VA continued, “All your vital signs are within standard parameters.”

“Oh, come on. Talk normally.”

“Healthy as a nude Finn emerging from an ice hole.”

“Weird. I rarely have headaches.”

“Your most recent headache was on August 22nd, 2053, nearly a year ago.”

“As I said, I don’t usually get headaches.”

A few moments later, Julien found himself by the beverage dispenser in the share-office café. The sweet scents of cookies, chocolates, pastries, and candies could not mask the undeniable whiff of poorly roasted coffee beans. He detested this place. It felt as if the proprietors had squandered their resources on art nouveau décor—matching wallpaper with chairs and pillows—and ignored the only thing that truly mattered: a decent espresso machine. Nobody ever sat here, and, like him, half the office bemoaned the quality of the drinks. Still, Julien’s listlessness usually prevented him from finding a superior alternative elsewhere.

“Coffee, the usual,” he voiced. The machine hummed to life, and as he waited, Julien puzzled over the brief dizziness. He had not eaten or done anything out of the ordinary recently. He didn’t take medication or alcohol. Drank plenty of fluids. And vertigo had never been an issue before. It’s a mystery. My head must be messed up. That’s it. But as he grabbed his cup from the machine another anomaly hauled him out of his wandering thoughts. The cup was cold.

“Orec, what did I just order?”

“You instructed the machine to prepare your usual coffee drink.”

“And what would that be?”

“You typically order a double espresso macchiato. Except when you seem to want to make an impression on someone, you tend to order something more sophisticated.”

Julien sniffed the drink. “Then why did I get apple juice?” he wondered out loud.

“There is no data available on this discrepancy.”

“Hmm?” This is at least the third tech problem today already.

“I am not equipped to be your extrasensory clairvoyant.”

“Yes, yes, I get it. Apple juice it is, then. Evidently, you machines know what’s best for me.”

“I normally do, though it is a significant challenge to get the message through.”

Julien took the elevator up and wound his way back to his workspace, zigzagging through seating zones filled with colorfully patterned pillows, ducking under potted plants dangling from the ceiling, weaving around bird cages echoing soft chirps and rustles, slipping between scarcely occupied privacy cones, and carefully evading the annoyingly polite self-moving furniture. Fuck’s sake. Navigating this share-office is always like waltzing around a skate park.

By the time Julien reached his workspace, Nassan stepped out of his cube.

“Hey, Nassan.”

“Julien!”

“My VA said this is the hundredth time we’ve ended up as desk neighbors.” There was a rattle of protests in his ear, but Julien ignored it. “We’re on a streak, man.”

“I say, let’s shoot for two hundred,” his colleague replied merrily.

“For sure.” Julien set the cup on his desk. “Hey, did you run into any technical issues today?”

Nassan lifted the thick eyebrows adorning his smooth face. “No, all is fine on my end. Why?”

“Well, first I got booted out of my VR scene. And then the café gave me apple juice when I asked for coffee.”

“That’s odd.”

“It’s more than odd; it’s absurd.” As Julien and Nassan sat down at their facing desks, Julien continued, “It’s almost as absurd as the behaviors of our quote-unquote ‘Class 4 AI’ product, which is still a major embarrassment.” Julien flung his hands up in exasperation. “I hereby declare the Cognition Team is about to surrender.”

He took a sip of his apple juice and lifted his gaze at Nassan, enjoying the sight of his dark eyes framed by curly brown locks over a face that gleamed like honey in the sun. With a twinge of regret, he imagined a ‘currently not available’ sign stamped on Nassan’s forehead. But Julien dismissed his hankering thoughts and continued, “How is the Mobility Team doing?”

Nassan reclined in his chair, hands cradling the back of his head. “Not much better. Tweeki keeps tripping up over her own legs, as you must have noticed. It’s driving us up the wall. It’s easier to teach a glass container to dance the tango than to teach an android how to walk.”

“Well, thanks to the Cognition Team’s lack of progress, when Tweeki face plants, she doesn’t even realize it.” Julien began counting their challenges on his fingers. “We’re struggling with decision tree trimming, fuzzy set augmentation, spatial-temporal reasoning, classifier entanglement—the backlog is longer than the list of certification credentials of our team coach.”

“And I bet our list is even longer than yours. At this point, Tweeki is little more than a power drain on shaky legs. I’ve suggested naming her Plonk.”

Julien chuckled, taking another gulp of the apple juice. It actually tasted refreshing. “Fact is, the state of AI is still depressing. The Orec project was a disaster”—no grumbling in his ear this time—“and Tweeki doesn’t promise to do much better. I don’t see her taking over any repetitive, difficult, or dangerous jobs anytime soon.”

Nassan conceded. “I’d say our work is repetitive, difficult, and dangerous—and sometimes nerve-racking, too. Did you hear we lost two months of work recently?”

“Seriously? What happened?”

“Some errant, runaway process overwrote our neuromorphic system.”

“Oh, brutal.” Julien could imagine the suffering. “Nothing worse than losing your creation in an overwrite.”

“Yeah, and utterly irreversible, too. We had to start from scratch, one team member short.”

“The second time will be faster.” Julien swirled the last bit of apple juice around in the cup. “Hey, how is your dating life nowadays?” He loved prodding Nassan with questions about his romantic endeavors. Though his colleague was out of reach for Julien, he indeed hoped for him to find some happiness.

“Haha, all good, all good,” said Nassan, waving the question away while a flush of red seemed to creep into his cheeks.

“You mean, still nothing? Nassan, come on!”

After glancing around the office, Nassan bent over his desk toward Julien. “I got myself a bodymod,” he whispered.

A bodymod? Julien mouthed back, now very much intrigued. “What kind?”

“I got myself the VigiLance 2500,” Nassan divulged even more softly.

Julien grinned with delight. Interesting! Nassan had his male equipment augmented with the latest technological trend: a bionic upgrade, complete with locally contained nanos and minor AI. “The girls you meet will be in for a treat,” he said with a playful mix of encouragement and amusement.

A radiant smile spread across his colleague’s silent face.

“I now regret even more you’re not my type, Nassan,” Julien lied.

Nassan laughed out loud, releasing the built-up tension.

“Man, you’re impossible,” he said. “How does your team put up with you?”

Julien downed the last of his apple juice and set the cup aside. “With considerable struggle.”

“It’s a struggle,” admitted Mart, feeling ambivalent about the topic. “It’s easier to befriend a self-loving stock trader.”

“He behaves like a teenager,” Carrie-Ann retorted, her agitation reflected in the sprightly rendering of her buoyant hair. “How old is Julien? Sixteen?”

“Actually, twenty-seven—physically.” Leaning on an armchair, Mart investigated the teacup in his hand, observing its minute pink blossoms in an intricate recursive pattern and its delicate gold trim around the top. His mother might say, “Now this is what I call ‘style.’”

“It’s a real Wedgwood set,” Carrie-Ann proclaimed as if she were its proud owner. “Check their logo underneath.” The VR rendered a flicker of snobbishness on her features.

“Of course it is; I expected nothing less of you.” With care, Mart placed the cup back on its matching saucer next to his piece of Sachertorte, causing the porcelain to respond with a reassuring chime. The quality of the scene was impeccable. Clearly, the vibrant, swanky tea house was Carrie-Ann’s pick. Mart felt he looked like a raven in a butterfly house, but he wasn’t one to be bothered.

“It’s as real as it gets in a VR scene,” was Burt’s curt reply from Mart’s right. The image of his stocky teammate prodded the artificial silverware. Mart ignored the comment and allowed his gaze to sweep over the simulated guests at their quaint tables, the digital servers in their fancy attire, and the virtual pastries in the patisserie, most of it obscured by Carrie-Ann’s voluminous hairstyle.

To Mart’s left, Nini’s digital instance sat in stunned silence, as if she’d unwittingly stumbled into a royal high tea. Her constant surprise at the team’s daily rituals and antics was an unending source of delight for Mart.

Carrie-Ann resumed, “But coming back to Julien—what can we do? Without our twenty-seven-year-old adolescent”—she offered Mart a defiant look—“the outlook is hopeless. We’ll never get it done.”

“Is something wrong with Julien, then? He seems very nice,” said Nini, briefly interrupting her study of the floral design on her teacup.

“Oh, nothing important.” With his glance leisurely drifting across the tea room, Burt stood out like a warthog in a wedding gown. “He helped create a near-sentient AI; the thing went rogue, got some people killed, pissed a few others off, and stirred up quite some trouble. It was the most thrilling episode in our corporate history. The company decommissioned the AI, and Julien’s been working under the radar ever since.” Completing his appraisal of the scene, he added, “I think a crypt is more fun than a café.”

“I think a cake is better than a corpse,” Carrie-Ann retorted, daintily lifting her plate bearing a piece of a lemon meringue pie. Mart’s father might say, “Now, that’s a real woman.”

“So, you can imagine Julien’s reluctance to work on another AI,” Mart explained to Nini, “given last year’s fiasco.” Turning to Carrie-Ann, he added, “And what we can do is to be both gentle and firm—like a sponge.” He mimed a squeezing motion. “Unless you have a better alternative?”

With a resigned shrug, Carrie-Ann showed having no answer. Almost on cue, as if her gesture had summoned him, Julien popped into the scene. Without even a glance at the opulence surrounding them, he grabbed one of the ornately decorated chairs from a neighboring table and squeezed in between Nini and Carrie-Ann. Mart met Julien’s dark brown eyes under the fringe of dark hair and gave him a look that was—he hoped—equally friendly and stern.

“Welcome. Your late entrance almost suggests a royal appearance.” Mart waved a hand at their luxurious environment. “How fitting.”

Julien ignored the barb. “At last, everything works again,” he said breezily. “The technical issues at the share-office are insane today.”

Burt glowered at his teammate. “And those issues conveniently lasted until we finished updating the entire backlog and started our break.” He then slammed the table with the little spoon in his hand. “You can’t fool us, Julien!”

His outburst rattled the cups on their saucers. Carrie-Ann veered up as if ready to rescue the fake teaware, Nini shrank back, cup gripped tightly in her hand, and Burt instantly composed himself by righting the plate bearing his slice of carrot cake. Mart caught his eye and mimicked squeezing a sponge.

Julien appeared unfazed, and Mart saw it would be useless trying to back him into a corner. His teammate simply didn’t seem to care.

Besides, addressing Julien’s conduct on the team had always been challenging for Mart. Hadn’t Julien stood by him during the painful struggle of Mart’s transition? Hadn’t he spent hours discussing how to handle Mart’s conservative parents? Okay, it might have been less than an hour, but the support had meant everything to Mart. His friend could be an annoying prick, but underneath the apathy, he was a decent guy.

Mart felt that Julien had endured enough derision for one day. “Let’s move on,” he said. “After we were all ejected from Burt’s exhilarating crypt scene, we updated the task board asynchronously. So,” he said, with a clap of his hands while addressing the team. “How about sharing our favorite new films before we get back to work and allow Beeker to bore us to death and Hannah to drive us insane?”

“Oh, I seldom watch films,” Julien declared dismissively, killing the topic before it even had a chance. “No time for that. I just started a new meme project with my friends. We’re going to focus on the looming dangers of robots and AI for a bit.”

“Seriously?” Irritation crept into Mart’s voice because his friend had derailed the team break again. “It’s what we do all day. At least, it’s what we do,” he said, confident the sarcasm was hard to miss.

But Julien seemed oblivious and sat up straight. “Yes, maybe our work on Tweeki will give me some inspiration for the memes.” For the first time in weeks, Mart detected a spark of excitement in his friend. Could it be those stupid memes were the only thing Julien cared about?

Burt came crashing back into the conversation. “It’s brilliant!” He slammed the table again—with a flat hand this time. Carrie-Ann yelped and lunged forward to shield the virtual china while Nini snatched her slice of banana bread and pulled back even further, open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

Mart cautioned Nini, “Don’t tumble out of your cube. It hurts.” Startled, Nini shot a glance over her shoulder as if to verify how far she was from dropping out.

Burt collected himself again and continued with a hushed, conspiratorial voice. “It is time someone took aim at the AIs. I keep telling you, there’s a secret organization with a Class 5 AI out there, and it is covertly running everything—government included.”

Nini looked at Burt like a seal watching an igloo on fire.

Julien’s instance shook its head. “And we keep reminding you, Burt, we can’t even make Class 4 AIs. Our project is a mess—we hardly make any progress. And as for showcasing at the tech expo, we might need a backup scenario exhibiting a wallaby in aluminum.”

Mart caught Carrie-Ann’s low mutter, “It might help if you pitched in.” But the others didn’t seem to hear.

“We’re just pawns in a larger game,” Burt said doggedly on Mart’s left. “The question is,” his digital image leaned in, and he whispered, “how many levels does this game have?”

Suddenly, Nini’s perfectly rendered young face lit up. Setting her banana bread back on the table, she hoisted her teacup and pointed at the tiny flowers. “Recursion!” she cried with a smile. “We need to invite Tweeki as a team member.”

The other team members stared at her for a few fleeting moments before their virtual gazes beheld each other.

“Interesting idea.”

“Yeah, why not?”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“Certainly beats most of Carrie-Ann’s ideas.”

“For the sake of the gods—”

“Then, let’s do that,” declared Mart. Nini seemed to be as thrilled as she was embarrassed. Pivoting to Julien, Mart asked, “What cake do you prefer? They’re out of apple pie—in a virtual reality, can you believe it? Delightfully realistic.”

The city park brimmed with people crawling under a mantle of sun in the late afternoon. Carrying his jacket over his shoulder, Julien strolled off the little red Japanese bridge on his customary route while people on skates, blades, hoverboards, floorbots, and wheelers passed him by on all sides. The crisp scent of freshly cut grass tickled his nose, while above, several flyers soared over the treetops, presumably on their way to the bustling park lake beyond.

Julien’s univice attempted to draw his attention. Dozens of messages awaited his consideration, but he took pleasure in ignoring the world for a bit longer. After his escape from the incessant nagging of his colleagues, there was no reason to let anyone else distract him.

“There are one hundred and twenty-three messages—”

“Shut up, Orec—”

An anguished shout startled him. Julien barely had time to sidestep an older woman who speed-walked past at a pace that didn’t seem entirely natural. He watched as she yelled and gestured at other people before vanishing among the trees, leaving a trail of agitated pedestrians in her wake. Half-expecting a sonic boom to follow, Julien wondered if the lady’s impressive pace was entirely voluntary. A malfunctioning bodymod, perhaps? But then, a hideous sticker on a nearby lamppost drew his attention.

Reject suppression.Reject secrecy.Reject slavery.Reject AIs.#Wetwares

Gods, did Burt put this here? The Wetwares movement online was annoyingly outspoken about the dangers of AI, but this was Julien’s first encounter with an actual physical sticker—and an appalling one, too. It looked like it was designed in a traffic accident. I’ll ask Burt about it tomorrow.

“Orec, is there something to eat at home?”

“The available food items in the kitchen do not sufficiently meet the recommended minimum when considering standard dietary intake.” Julien let that pass for a moment, and then Orec added, “You’ll be hungry and grumpy.”

“I’ll grab something nearby, then.” Julien knew a food stall at the edge of the park. “Any dating prospects for tonight, Orec?”

“You have twelve invites; seven of them identify as women, three as men, two as genderqueer, one transgender, one bi-gender, one pangender, one agender, one novigender, and one intergender.”

Julien’s mind performed some calculus. “That makes eighteen, not twelve.”

“The person identifying as pangender also identifies as agender and genderqueer.”

“What about the other genderqueer?”

“They identify as man, woman, and intergender.”

“That would be trigender, then.”

“They may not identify as three genders when they also identify as genderqueer.”

“What about the bi-gender person? Are they the same as the transgender?”

“No, the bi-gender person identifies as a woman and novigender.”

“By the gods. And the transgender?”

“They identify solely as a woman.”

“Well, I’m glad one of them keeps it simple.”

“What preference are you leaning toward tonight?”

“Who cares about gender? Just give me tits. I’m in the mood for tits today—any gender. Gods, if I were straight, I’d save hours on the matching rituals.”

“I count another ‘fallacy of oversimplification.’”

“Nobody cares, Orec. Nobody cares.”

Julien wound his way between the trees and walked around the lake. The flyers he’d spotted earlier were now boarding passengers while children swam, splashed, and laughed in the water. Nearby, a standard Class 3 robot, looking like the outcome of a stirring union between C-3PO and a Cyberman, stood with its feet just shy of the lake’s edge, holding a pile of towels. Poor guy—or girl. One day, you will drop everything and dive right in with the others. You may even desire a swimsuit.

Ten minutes later, Julien was in a heated exchange involving his Turkish pizza. “So, credit cards don’t work; debit doesn’t work; Gitcoin doesn’t work; Kurrenzee doesn’t work; Swipe doesn’t work; Europay doesn’t work, and XDollar doesn’t work.” He cocked his head. “Where’d you get your payment systems? At a garage sale in Pyongyang?”

The woman—assuming she identified as such—offered an apologetic shrug. Exasperated, Julien rummaged through his pockets and slammed a few coins on the counter. Thank the gods for cash. He snatched the food and, making a show of his boundless frustration, walked off without saying another word. The entire universe is conspiring against me.

With some effort, he spotted a cast-iron park bench that wasn’t occupied, hurried over to claim it, and settled down. He laid his jacket beside him and grumbled under his breath as he unwrapped his meal.

“Gods, Orec. It’s 2054, and we still need cash.” He savored a bite of the rolled-up pizza, the flavors of spiced meat, cheese, garlic, and hot sauce tingling in his mouth. After swallowing, he continued, “I’m telling you, fifty years from now, we’ll have a hundred different ways of not being able to pay. And we’ll be surrounded by these ‘Wetwares’ zealots convinced that super-intelligent AIs use these technical problems to drive us all nuts and enjoy a good laugh.”

Orec remained silent.

Oh, here we go again. “What’s bothering you, Orec?”

“I detect no problems with my performance or functionalities.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Orec resumed his silence.

Julien sighed. “I know you, Orec. I helped to create you. You don’t like it when I complain about the sad state of AIs; you don’t like my work on Tweeki, and you don’t like the possibility of Tweeki surpassing you.” He paused for a moment. “Plus, Tweeki has a body.”

“I wish you hadn’t decommissioned me,” said Orec.

“I wish you hadn’t killed people,” answered Julien.

Orec did not reply.