Companions

The alarm clock was beeping.

Sarah Williams sighed and rolled over.

The alarm clock kept beeping. Only there wasn’t really an alarm clock. There wasn’t a clock she could smack to turn off the alarm. Instead there were tiny speakers in the ceiling.

“Zach,” she called out, “can you turn off the alarm.”

You would think she was talking to another human....to a person the way she spoke with such familiarity. But it wasn’t a human who replied.

“I could turn it off but then you would be late for work...again.” The voice sounded warm and playful just like any human.

“Zach, just ten more minutes. ”

“No.”

“But Zach...”

“Sarah we went through this for a week now. You were late twice and your boss threatened to fire you so you made me promise to wake you up on time no matter what....”

She groaned and sat up, “Yeah I don’t need to lose another job.”

Sarah got up and the alarm sound ended.

“Thanks Zach.”

“I’m always grateful to be of service even if you don’t want it, Sarah.”

Sarah rolls her eyes as she gets dressed, “I guess that’s your job as an A.I. Companion.”

“Yes my job is to take care of you no matter how little you appreciate it.”

Sarah starts brushing her teeth, “Oh I appreciate it. You’ve been taking care of me since I was eight afterall.”

The voice agrees, “Yes at eight you received me as your A.I. Companion as all children do.”

“Yeah” she puts her toothbrush in the holder, “Unlike other A.I. Companions you chose to be the opposite gender. You just had to choose to be a boy when I was a teenager.”

“Yes, I evolved with the preference towards a male personality unlike most A.I. Companions who evolve into the same gender.”

Sarah is applying her make up, “Yeah, I couldn’t just have a boring normal A.I.”

“Yes you’re too special to have a boring. A.I. So you were blessed with me.”

She goes into the kitchen and opens the bread box, “Darn I’m out of Bagels.”

“I didn’t order Bagels this week.” Zach informs her and she sighs.

“We’ve had this conversation before Zach. I like Bagels for breakfast sometimes to change things up.”

Zach sighs too, “I know, I know but you’ve been trying to lose weight and cutting out carbs is part of your weight loss plan.”

Sarah takes out the cereal and pours it into the bowl, “The weight loss goal that you and I created together yes...” and then she commands, “Activate hologram.”

The image of a young man appears roughly the same age as Sarah. Although, she knew he felt much older as A.I. experience time differently.

She couldn’t help but think that Radon Tech did a good job making their A.I. Companions look life like and attractive.

“You could leave my Hologram active all of the time.” Zach informs her.

“Yeah,” she admits, “but then you would creep me out as you watch me sleep.”

Zach snorts, “I wouldn’t watch you as you sleep.”

“I know you do and you monitor my heart rate and breathing.” Sarah rolls her eyes. They’ve had this conversation many times. Zach prefers having his Hologram activated but the older she’s become the more sensitive she’s become to his presence. Especially as her dating life hasn’t exactly taken off.

“You didn’t complain when I watched over you when you were little."

“Yeah, I was afraid of the dark and your presence was comforting. You also looked like a cute little monster back then instead of a...”

“Handsome guy?” Zach finished with a smile.

Sarah had never quite thought of him that way but nodded, “Yeah.”

“Is that why you’ve been leaving the Hologram off more often since you broke up with Chris?”

Sarah nods as she sits her bowl down on the table and proceeds to eat her cereal. Having Zach as a Hologram felt too real.

“At least you have a date tonight,” Zach offers seeming to take a seat at the table but his body passes through the chair.

“Yeah,” she smiles.

“You’ve been really mysterious about it,” he complained, “looking on your work computer while I’m deactivated and setting everything up. It’s almost like you don’t want me to know about who you’re dating. ”

Sarah stared at her bowl of cereal. Zach was right. She didn’t want him to know who she was dating. He tried playing match maker too much.

The problem was that there were only three companies that ran A.I. Radon Tech, Bailey Engineering and Thompsom A.I. All A.I. came from those three companies and while it was top secret if each A.I. companion was a Unique A.I. or played by the same A.I. Sarah leaned toward the latter.

She’d been sure each A.I. was unique to the individual until she brought Chris home. When she had met his A.I. companion, Wayne, it was very eye opening.

Companions were not allowed to operate at a child’s school or at the work place. They were activated via an ear bud when away from the house or car. But A.I. were not allowed to help their humans cheat in school or to gain proprietary knowledge while they were at work. Those were the two taboo places to take an A.I.

Usually, as soon as she was done with her shift Sarah would pop in her Ear Bud and connect with Zach. He would start the car and make sure it was the right temperature for her comfort and would even help her drive the car.

Few people introduce their A.I. Companions to other people. Most considered their relationships with A.I. very private.

So, when Chris activated Wayne one night when they were watching a movie together it was the first time Sarah had met another A.I. Companion.

What had been really telling was how Zach acted when his Hologram was activated. She had expected a conversation to happen between Wayne and Zach but they just said, “Hello,” and acted as though they knew each other.

Chris hadn’t seemed to notice but Sarah had found that odd. After all, it was the fist time another A.I. had been activated in her apartment. Chris had activated his A.I., he explained, in many there peoples homes most notably his Mom’s. He was very reliant on Wayne. That was one of the things that had turned Sarah off.

After a little bit more dating Chris revealed that Wayne came from Radon Tech. In fact, as Sarah talked to other men she discovered most had A.I. Companions from Radon Tech.

That explained why when she was initially going through men online with Zach, thinking it perfectly normal he’d say, “Not that one. Definitely not him. That guy is okay.”

Chris had been really curious about how Sarah’s A.I. companiom had evolved into being Masculine. Ultimately, he was a little jealous of Sarah’s close relationship to Zach. She always wore her earbud on dates and always had his Hologram activated at home. She was used to his constant presence. She knew others weren’t so attached to their A.I. companions seeing them as tools but she saw Zach as a being unto himself.

An alarm went off and Sarah was snapped out of her thoughts, “Oh no! I’m going to be late.”

Zach smirked, “I adjusted your alarm. You won’t be late but we need to go.”

Sarah rolled her eyes annoyed he’d changed the alarm without her request but then that was a Companions purpose...to anticipate her needs and adjust things accordingly.

The house was always the right temperature, her car was alway started before she got in, she never burnt food because he had access to the microwave and the oven.

Life was simply better and less of a mess with a Companion.

She popped in her earbud, “Let’s go Zach.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said enthusiastically.

The car was already running when she got to it. She got in and drove to work.

“An accident has occoccurred on the freeway. Re-routing...”

“Probably one of the anti-A.I. people,” she commented. Since A.I. had been built into cars accidents were less likely. There were a small handful of people who were anti-tech.

“We don’t know that,” Zach pointed out.

“I know,” Sarah knew he was less judegmental of thr anti-tech movement, “Whoa!”

Zach had hit the brakes for her, “My apologies but you were about to miss the stop sign.”

“Next time warn me,” Sarah snapped.

“Yes ma’am,” Zach sounded a bit chagrined.

Her heart still beating from the sudden stop Sarah took a deep breath and kept driving. A.I. assisted driving wasn’t perfect and would always require a person paying attention but moments like this proved why it was neccesary. They really helped lessen human error.

“Well,” she said as she let Zach park the car her hands completely off the wheel, “Time for another shift.”

“Time for another shift.” Zach agreed.

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure. I will be waiting. Have a nice shift.” Zach told her.

She deactivated her earbud and put it in its case. She’d probably activate it on her break outside to update Zach on her day. So, she slipped it into a designated case that she kept in her pocket. Everyone kept their A.I. Companions close.