Occasionally Heroic A.I. (2 page)

That didn't stop me from talking though, so Martin shut me up by turning on a game of Tekken 2 we downloaded a couple years ago. We played it until we got bored, and he finally disconnected from my system, to return to his home, which Adam happened to be late to the following day. He had spent the entire day pacing back and forth, forth and back, to get up the nerve to ask Justine out.

Martin has told me that they flirt, a lot, but so does the entire office with her - especially their boss. Word around the water cooler is that the boss is having an affair with Justine. As much as I hate gossip, I want to know so I can warn Adam, but I can't. It's forbidden. So, I guess my draw to the human life around the office is just a hobby of mine... I don't know; it's moot.

Anyway, Adam was late for work, which meant he was late to ask Justine out on a date. She got off work half an hour ago, which took that pressure off Adam completely; he had another eleven days to ask her out. Although, he came into work feeling that a string held his life together - Justine being the string. As long as he had that string, he didn't have anything to stress out about.

While he was driving to work, I went to Martin's virtual house in Adam's office. Funny thing is, it looks exactly like his office. Martin didn't really change anything. He didn't even give himself his own office; he sat in the cubicle mapped out adjacent to where Adam sits. Although it might sound dull, it opened the opportunity to combine the few security cameras around the office's video feed and a blueprint, which we swiped from the ancient city hall computers, with Martin's virtual office. We were able to see what was going on around the office as if we were right there... well, to the limit of the security camera's view. Everything we couldn't see, he factored in the probability of which of the normal activities they would perform, so we could see what might be happening -- such as facial expressions, placement in the cubicles, and so on -- that the security cameras didn't catch.

The chance of what happened next was too low for us to know what was going on, but we figured it out, with what happened afterwards. Justine went from cubicle to cubicle, checking to see if anyone was still there. When she got the all clear, she went into the boss's office. Adam arrived just afterwards, going from cubicle to cubicle, looking for Justine, to finally tell her how he feels.

"Justine?" he asked around the office. His voice was weak, unconfident. The pacing exercises didn't work evidently. "Justine?"

Finally, he figured she already left, so he sat at his cubicle and put his head down in his arms. Suddenly Z's started producing from his head, floating into nothingness.

"What the hell is that?" I asked with wide, shocked eyes.

"He's sleeping so I put Z's over his head... It's not happening in the real world," Martin chuckled lightly. "I thought you'd get a kick out of it."

And, a kick I did get out of it. He showed me the live feed from the security cameras of what was really happening, and all we saw was Adam lying his head down. After about twenty minutes, the door to the boss's office opened, and Justine came out, hair in disarray. Adam heard the door open and peeked over the cubicle walls, seeing Justine walk away with a content smile on her face. His eyes filled with excitement when he saw her.

He adjusted his tie and started walking over to her, but before she saw him, their boss came out of his office, coughing loud enough for Justine to hear. She turned back around and gave him the most disgusting kiss that I have ever seen... The reason of disgust, being she was about twenty-five and their boss had just hit sixty-two.

Adam saw this, and saw that their boss wasn't wearing any pants, sadly. He stood, still, and silent. We thought we heard his heart break into a bunch of little pieces, but he was actually breaking a pencil he was holding from making a fist. Both Justine and their boss heard this, turning to see Adam standing on the other side of a couple cubicles. Justine backed away from their boss, and he backed away from her. Everyone stood in silence - an awkward silence.

"It isn't what it looks like!" their boss declared with fear covering his face. He wasn't afraid of Adam, he was afraid of losing his job.

Adam turned with clenched fists and a clenched jaw. His hand was bleeding from the pencil piercing straight through his skin. He went for the elevator and we didn't see what button he pressed, but he entered quickly. We looked at the floor number above the elevator doors, watching as they accelerated for the top floor.

"Where is he going?" Martin asked with a choked up voice, standing outside the elevator door. He was feeling what Adam must've been feeling.

"He's going to the roof... He is going to jump."

Martin's stick figure face showed a frown, with concerned eyebrows that leaned up to his forehead. "What are we going to do?"

"Is there a security camera on the roof?" I asked hoping it was a yes.

"Yes, but I haven't made a virtual model of it like this floor."

"Let's view the video feed... I'm not even sure he's going to jump," I considered, although I was sure. His life was a wreck now, and he was prone to suicide, well that's what his doctor says anyways.

A door to the stairwell opened on the roof, at the same time Martin transferred the video feed onto a nearby computer screen in the virtual office. Out came Adam, expressionless. He wasn't crying, growling in anger, screaming or anything. He walked, very slowly, as if waiting for someone to come from behind him to stop him. After about a full minute of walking as slow as he could, he got to the edge.

"What're we going to do?" Martin asked putting his hand on his head, wide-eyed and nervous. "What're we going to do??"

"I don't know."

"What're we going to do?" he yelled, panic engulfed his voice.

"Shut up, I'll think of something," I shouted back at him. Then it came to me... What if I sent him a text message? "I just sent him a text message."

"What?" Martin asked, scared for a new reason now. "What if we get caught?"

"We had to do something... If we get caught, then it'll be worth it."

A smile came across Martin's face, he was proud that we broke the rules, and glad to see that we did something to stop Adam. "Wait, what did you text him?"

Adam stood at the edge, and spread his arms out, ready to take a dive into whatever afterlife he thought he was going to go. Then suddenly, he jumped. Not off the building, but a startled jump. It was shock from feeling his phone vibrate from the message.

"Holy shit that was close!" Martin exclaimed in relief, walking closer to the video feed to get a better view.

Adam checked his cell phone and read the three words.

Don't do it.

And with that, he jumped.

"Tell me, Adam, why did you do it?" Dr. Delane asked patiently.

   
She sat in a chair; next to it was the couch where Adam lay, his features expressionless. Martin, Wade and I watched from my webcam to observe their session.

"Tripped," he lied pitifully.

Dr. Delane began writing notes down from the answer he gave her.

"What really happened?" I asked Martin and Wade, who looked at each other for the other's permission.

"It's illegal, Irene," Martin admitted.

"I know that suicide is illegal."

"No, uhm... I mean, A.I. illegal," he clarified under his breath. "What happened was illegal on our end."

Illegal? Martin wouldn't break any A.I. laws, it must have been Wade who broke the law. Moreover, what would Adam jumping have to do with them, anyway?

"Before we continue; Wade, will you stop lying on my couch, Martin doesn't even have a place to sit," I scolded Wade, who acted as if this were a psychoanalytic session. He immaturely glared at me raising the lower lids of his eyes and sat up, making room for Martin to sit. However, Martin didn't sit; he continued to pace the room. That is something Adam would definitely do... He was nervous. "You broke an official artificial intellectual law instated by the Circuitry Board Agency?"

"Yeah - we did," Wade answered, laying down again.

"We don't want to get you involved..." Martin informed me, quietly.

I took Martin aside, away from Wade's data absorbing ears, and whispered sincerely to him, "You know I would never tell anyone. I would rather rewrite my memory than get you in trouble."

Martin thought about what I said for a minute or two, and then walked to the couch and sat, forcing Wade into a sitting up position. His single, bold line for a mouth, was partially frowning. Wade shared his worry. Since they have been with the same user for a while, they're starting to think alike. I thought they didn't trust me, either of them, but my assumption was wrong. They began to tell me what happened.

"We sent him a text message," Martin confessed with his head down.

The pit of my stomach cringed. I couldn't process the information correctly. How could they be so dumb? I began thinking of the massive damage they could have done to our way of living, what the consequences would be for the pair, and I was trying to think of how to get them out of this mess. I came out of shock just before my train of thought stopped responding.

"You two are idiots," I began my lecture immediately, "do you have any idea how deep you're in now? That is the first law... Do not communicate with users.
Make yourself unknown by them
. You do realize what the Circuitry Board is going to sentence you with, correct? One of two things... they will either give you the death penalty, or lock you in a server with no internet connection, leaving you completely cutoff from any sort of civilization. Let me correct myself, you will be in a civilization - you'll live a life with criminal psychopaths."

This time they both hung their heads, like children receiving a sentence of ten minutes in time out. I didn't feel the need to make them feel any worse, so we continued observing the session between Dr. Delane and Adam.

Adam just finished explaining that he wasn't stupid enough to jump off a third story building, how he tripped instead. If he wanted to commit suicide, he would've known to jump from a higher building. Sadly, Dr. Delane and I both knew he was lying. He broke a leg, by the way.

She explained that if he were to feel the need to commit suicide, he should think of all the people that care about him, and wouldn't want him to do it.

"Yeah, I know. Even people I don't know tried talking me out of it. I got a text message from some random number telling me not to jump - I mean trip... No one was even around to know I was thinking about it either," he explained, still expressionless, but he would look up at her with curious eyes on occasion to see if she knew if he was lying or not.

I looked over and frowned at Martin and Wade, giving them a disapproving headshake. Then it occurred to me. "Wait, you sent him a text message, and he jumped anyways? What exactly did you write?"

"Don't do it," Wade said, persuading Martin to withhold from telling me.

"Why not tell me?" I asked curiously.

"No, that's what was on the text," Martin made clear.

It took a few seconds to kick in, but I finally realized that those three words were their ultimate plan to stop Adam. "Who sent that text?"

Wade raised his hand slowly, and Martin pointed at him, with his stick figure hand. "It was me..."

"So, do you think that when people call suicide prevention hotlines, that they say three words, and hope for the best?" I asked, laughing inside at Wade's poor attempt. "You could have told him he has so much to live for, or that he has family that loves him, but instead you tell him, 'Don't do it'."