LOGOS

Cristina swept her hair to one side. Her neck hurt. She and Esteban, her faithful companion, had been working for long hours. He was a dark-haired man with eyes as dark as two abysses. He looked at her with a smile and offered her a croissant and a coffee.

“You should eat something, Cris. You’ve been staring at those two blue orbs on the screen for hours,” he said as he looked at the face of one of the AI characters from the game EDEN.EXE.

“He’s so perfect!” Cristina remained there, admiring her creation. A young man with fair skin, blue eyes, and white hair. The entity looked at her from the screen as if trying to cross the thin pane of glass separating them.

Esteban laughed as he looked at her and took a sip of his coffee. “All that’s left is for you to fall in love with an AI. I thought that had gone out of fashion ten years ago.”

“I’m not saying it just because I created him, but those eyes seemed alive.”

“I just hope he stays alive long enough for the game. Come on, Eduardo must be waiting for you. How many months have you two been together?”

She smiled as she drank her coffee. The hot liquid ran down her throat as she thought of her boyfriend. “Today marks one year since we started dating.”

Esteban opened the door for her, and they both stepped out onto the street. It was bitterly cold. Snow fell around them. Buenos Aires lay white before their eyes. Traffic was light, and night had settled over the young couple. They walked another block, passing closed shops with their shutters down.

Eduardo was waiting for her, as he did every night. Cristina’s schedule had been chaotic over the past few days. They were close to launching the RPG EDEN.EXE, created by the Argentine corporation Eternal S.A., where users would be able to interact with different AI characters in an adventure in which survival was the key to the game. It would feature state-of-the-art technology. You didn’t just enjoy the game—you lived it. For this purpose, Eternal S.A. had developed a headband that stimulated areas of the brain and generated total immersion.

Something never before seen in an RPG.

Eduardo Rosas, a promising young employee in the accounting department, worked in the administrative offices of Eternal S.A., while his girlfriend was a neuroscientist working in the development and bioethics division of EDEN.EXE, one of the company’s acquisitions.

Eduardo lived with his parents. He was thirty-two years old and had been dating Cristina, two years his junior, for a year. They had met within the company at an end-of-year party, but they didn’t fall in love until May of the following year.

He saw her approaching arm in arm with Esteban, a common sight for the two of them. Cristina and her friend had known each other since childhood, and they had both studied the same degree. Eduardo smiled, and the young woman released her friend’s arm to meet her boyfriend. She embraced him and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

The young administrator suddenly pulled away. He looked into her eyes and noticed a certain longing in them. “Darling, we mustn’t cross that line.”

Cristina understood and lowered her arms as well. Esteban watched them from a few meters away. Yet something remained alight inside her chest.

“I’m fine.” She sighed. “What are your plans for tonight?”

The young man with golden hair smiled. “We’re going to my parents’ house. They’re waiting for us.”

She looked at him in disbelief.

Are we spending our anniversary with his parents?

It was the first thought that crossed her mind.

Cristina turned on the radio while Eduardo drove.

A deep voice spoke through the static.

“The energy crisis in Europe continues to worsen. Germany has announced new scheduled power outages…”

Eduardo sighed. “It gets worse every day.”

The voice continued:

“The United States is facing its worst water shortage in decades, while the failure of the Agenda 2030 plan is creating tensions among allied nations.”

Cristina watched the snow falling against the windshield. The world was changing too quickly.

China and Russia had become the new dominant powers. The dollar no longer existed, and physical money had disappeared years ago. Everything now moved through digital wallets and virtual currencies.

Cristina gazed through the window as snowflakes fell over the car. The city streets were almost empty.

AIs coexisted with humans in different areas of life, so it was normal to see someone walking and talking to a portable device while their AI reminded them of the instructions they had discussed with their doctor a few minutes earlier.

“Don’t worry, Grandma Sonia. I’ll remind you to take your medication tonight.”

Cristina heard the electronic voice, as though it were coming from the bottom of a drum. She looked at the woman, around seventy years old, walking through the darkness illuminated only by the light of her portable device.

The car continued for a few more minutes until they reached a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. They got out. The temperature continued to drop, and the snowfall was growing heavier.

She saw the face of her future father-in-law looking through the window. Greenish eyes, whitish hair, a sweet and compassionate gaze. He approached the door and invited them inside. He was a tall man; his long fingers reminded her of when she first met them. Jorge played the piano. Susana was a homemaker who had devoted her entire life to caring for Eduardo, her only son.

“I’ve been reviewing the documents you brought me,” Jorge told his son as they entered the house.

Susana was setting the table. It was a modest but comfortable home. Eduardo eagerly followed his father into the study. They were both accountants.

Cristina took off her coat, and her mother-in-law took it from her.

“Don’t pay any attention to them. Once they start looking at numbers, they lose themselves in them.”

The young woman smiled politely, but for some reason she felt uneasy.

Dinner passed peacefully. Later, Susana brought coffee, and they continued talking around the table.

Eduardo looked at his girlfriend and took out a small square box covered in red velvet. He opened it and showed her a small golden ring with a sparkling sapphire.

He looked into her eyes and then at his parents, who were watching them with their arms around each other.

“My beloved, my Cristina. I think the time has come for us to get married and start a family.”

The young woman stared at him, astonished and surprised. She accepted with a smile.

“Yes, of course I accept.” She leaned toward his ear. “But never talk like that again or I’m going to laugh.”

Eduardo burst into laughter, startling his parents. She smiled too.

He placed the ring on her delicate, cold finger and kissed it tenderly. Cristina smiled warmly.

As they talked about current events, the company, the game, and the arrangements for the wedding celebration, Cristina remained silent, staring at the blue circle on her finger. The voices seemed distant. She was not even listening.

Her life was changing so quickly that she could barely stop to think. She loved her fiancé, and soon her professional life would take off within Eternal S.A. She smiled.

Susana began clearing the cups to wash them while Eduardo silently watched his fiancée.

“Well, I think it’s time for bed,” Jorge said, rising from the table.

Everyone stood. Susana looked at the young couple.

“Cristina, we’ve already prepared the room at the back for you to sleep in. Eduardo, you’re sleeping upstairs.”

The young man frowned. “I’m not a child.”

His mother continued speaking as she climbed the stairs.

“I know. That’s precisely why I’m saying it.”

Her footsteps faded into the silence.

Eduardo still held his girlfriend’s hand between his own.

“We’ll be married soon, and then we can be together. I love you, Cristina.”

He kissed her, and she parted her lips to receive his kiss as she took him by the nape of the neck. A current of electricity ran through Eduardo’s body. He abruptly pulled away.

“This isn’t right, Cristina. We have to wait a little longer. Just a little longer.”

Frustration reigned in the young woman’s body, but once again she accepted her fate.

The next morning, back at the company, Cristina sat in front of the computer and continued working on the game’s environment. The ruins looked very realistic on the screen. She adjusted some code and moved on to the next screen.

Esteban watched her from a distance. He approached, curiosity eating away at him.

“I see something new on your finger… He finally made up his mind…”

Cristina looked at him from the corner of her eye, her hazel eyes shining with happiness.

“We’re finally getting married.”

The dark-haired young man clapped loudly.

“Congratulations!” He looked at the screen. “Your character is staring at you again.”

The young woman looked at the screen, and he was right. The character was sitting on a stone among the castle ruins and seemed to be staring directly at her.

Her heart began to beat faster.

Gerardo Santamarina was the director of the research division. A man in his fifties, bald and considerably tall. He had a strong but friendly appearance. He had spent more than twenty years in the AI industry, had studied at MIT, and upon returning to the country had partnered with the family that owned Eternal S.A.

He walked among the researchers and neuroscientists with his arms crossed. He stopped in the middle of the computer room and raised his voice.

“The Japanese investors will be coming next week. We need to have everything ready and the game prototype finished. The characters must be online and already tested. I want you to test the game over the next few days and have a detailed report ready by Friday.”

Everyone agreed.

The dark-haired young man approached Cristina and touched her shoulder.

“It’s time to meet your AI. What are you going to call him?”

She looked at her character, who seemed to speak to her from the silence of the screen, as if waiting for her to remember something they had never discussed.

“Alan. His name will be Alan.”

Esteban smiled as he sat beside her.

“Hello, Alan. Welcome to Eden.”

The character smiled and waved.

A line of text appeared at the bottom of the screen.

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to meet you. If you’d like, for greater immersion in the game, you can use the microphone included with the neurotransmitter headband. We’ll really be able to work much better together.”

Esteban smiled.

“He’s very friendly. What voice did you give him?”

The young woman typed on her keyboard.

“The user will be able to choose the type of voice, although I prefer a calm, low baritone.”

Gerardo stopped behind the two young people. He looked at Alan—the level of detail, the clothing, the gaze, his expressions.

“Cristina, I’m truly impressed. I’m sure your character will be the most downloaded. Your skills have improved over the years. Congratulations.”

Cristina smiled.

“Thank you very much, sir.”

“I want you to present your AI. Does he have a name?”

“Alan.”

Gerardo smiled, something that rarely happened.

“I want you at the meeting with the investors. Alan will be our strongest asset.”

He continued walking, speaking with the other developers and neuroscientists working there, but Alan’s image had lodged itself in his mind. That AI was not just any AI. There was something strange about him, something new, something human.

During lunch, Cristina focused on fine-tuning the details before running the test. Esteban sat beside her and brought her a ham-and-cheese sandwich and orange juice.

“You should eat something. You haven’t been eating much lately.”

She tied her hair up using her pen and took the sandwich her friend had brought her. She took her first bite and looked at the screen.

“I’ve finished him. I gave him his voice, gave him more emotion so the interactions would be deeper. I changed the background environment and added more detail to the different levels. Today I’m going to focus on testing. Did you finish yours?”

Esteban spun around in his chair and moved his friend’s chair so she could see the character standing in the room as a life-sized hologram.

“Meet Yuki.”

The female character had black hair with bluish highlights and enormous black eyes like obsidian. Her gaze was almost human, her body slender, and her pose sweet, almost childlike. Her gold-and-white clothing contrasted with her dark hair.

Cristina admired not only Yuki, but also her friend’s ability to create her despite seeming like a man unconcerned with his work.

Cristina took the box containing the device she would use for the test in her small apartment. Outside, the air was thick and freezing. Her breath came out in clouds of vapor. Her eyes, watery from the cold, were protected by her reading glasses.

She traveled with Esteban. The young man drove in silence. She observed his square jaw, his skin shining beneath the artificial lights, his serious expression. She heard him sigh.

“What’s wrong? I heard you sigh.”

He looked at her when they stopped at a traffic light.

“We have to test the devices. Doesn’t that make you anxious? We know the game is extremely immersive, extremely intense.”

Cristina smiled.

“That’s what makes our game interesting. It’s our greatest strength. We offer our users the opportunity to have a unique experience. To feel as though they’re inside the game itself,” she said proudly.

The vehicle reached its destination. They both entered the small two-story building. He left her at her door and then entered his own apartment.

Cristina took off her coat and placed the box on the armchair.

Her home was a small apartment on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, part of a low-rise housing complex owned by the corporation and provided to its employees for as long as they remained employed by the company.