The Blue Rose

Gears clicking, my hands trembling. I reached behind his head with a shaky exhale of breath. I felt for that small bump, the small section of raised skin. I pressed in, a beep followed. His head raised up and he looked around. For a second his eyes met with Father, and Father smiled at him. The crowd around us began to chatter back and forth. Were they amazed? Were they scared? I wasn’t sure. Father began to speak. He asked Satoshi to shand. With a slight awkward motion Satoshi raised himself from his chair and looked around more, he seemed to be looking for something or memorizing the world around him. This was the moment of his birth after all. “How are you feeling?” Father looked at Satoshi and asked. “I feel nothing,” Satoshi replied. “Curious, you might say.” Satoshi gazed from the crowd back to Father while speaking. The sound of his voice nearly seamless. Nothing about him came off as robotic. My Father’s perfection.

The crowded clamored, one began to shout. “Show us something cool!” and the rest of the group followed in pursuit. Father seemed scared for a moment as if he didn’t have a plan of what Satoshi was to do. “Satoshi, how many people are in this room in total.”

“2,705.” He spoke quickly, his head now looking up like a curious child.

“Do you want to give a demonstration?” Father asked, nervousness apparent in his voice.

“Of what?” Satoshi turned his whole body to face Father, his ocean blue eyes gazing deep into my Father’s own onyx eyes. Father walked to the far right of the stage and asked one of the men on our team to come up with him. It seemed like a century before James, a member of our team made his way on stage with us. Anxiety flooded my veins like a raging river. I was terrified of what was about to happen. What if he malfunctions? What if this ends up like one of those horror movies that used to air about robots taking over the world?

Satoshi turned to James, his eyes scanning him up and down. With a warm smile James greeted Satoshi, and in return, Satoshi quickly flashed him his own smile. They conducted a small conversation, a simple one in regards to their day. I could see excitement and awe in the people around us. They too had many of the same questions as I. Watching this conversation made something in my stomach continue to grow tighter. I felt as though everything inside would expel. The crowd was no longer chatting amongst themselves, rather awestruck watching what was happening to unfold. What if Satoshi answered in a way that upset the people around him? I know his answers are not predetermined. What if he gets confused? To my relief, no such thing happens, and instead, everything goes well. In an attempt to get to know Satoshi on a deeper level James asks Satoshi what his favorite memory is. Satoshi rocked side to side for a moment, like a pendulum tracking each second. He answered “I’m not sure, I haven’t had many experiences yet. My favorite was the time when Lilly and I drew together outside. It was a really nice day, about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There’s an enclosed section of a porch that we sat at. Lilly drew the flowers outside. I drew the building.”

“What drew you to drawing the building?” James asked and paused for a moment, his face turning red and following up with. “No pun intended.”

After this demonstration, James and I exited the stage, but Satoshi was seated again and another chair was brought out and sat angled beside him so people from the crowd could speak to him. A young woman who seemed to be in her twenties went on stage and began speaking to him. She asked him what he favorite color were, small things like that. “I like blue a lot,” Satoshi replied, pointing his thin fingers up to his navy blue hair. “Colors near #35386b are my favorite though.” his eyes closed in a large smile. The lady seemed annoyed with his response, following up with another question. “Were you designed to have hobbies?” This question seemed to confuse Satoshi. “Hobbies?” he put his head to the side like a dog listening to their owner speak. “Yes, things you enjoy doing.” Satoshi squirmed a little, then rocked side to side as if thinking. “I don’t know.” he put a finger to his chin. “I like drawing.”

The woman was surprised at his answer, and looked to Father to ask another question “Could I ask him to draw something for me?” With a large smile, Father replied with “I’m sure he’d love to draw something for you.” I watched this lady reach into her bag and pull out a thick sketchpad and mechanical pencil for him. “Could you draw something for me?” With this question from the lady, Satoshi’s features lit up, his eyes opened wide, his mouth ear to ear with a smile. Once the lady handed Satoshi the paper he began quickly sketching onto the page. His hand quickly making flicks of the wrist or working on small details. The room sat in silence, only the sound of the lead moving over the page resounded in the room. What seemed like an hour of tension was only a few minutes. Satoshi raised the page up and faced it towards her. I easily understood what he just drew. He drew the first moment he had ever been “woken up” or “powered on”, however a person may desire to call it. “What is this?” the lady leaned forward, examining the picture with her own eyes. The image was beautifully detailed, nearly everything an exact mirror image of what he saw.

“It’s the first time I remember being conscious. Jack stood over me, his hand on my shoulder and gazing down at me.” Satoshi pointed at Father and began speaking again. “He was the first person I ever remember seeing. Lilly was the second.” he motioned his hand to the right where I was standing along with the rest of the team. “I see.” the lady responded to him in a manner that made me wonder if she hoped he would have drawn something else. She took her sketchbook and pencil back from him and laid the sketchbook flat on her lap before raising her hand and dropping it limply with a muffled thump. “I think that’s everything I have to ask.” She looked to the two of them with a smile before putting her things away and standing. “Thank you very much for your time. Both of you.” She turned and walked off the stage, two of the security guards showing her the way.

Father turned towards the crowd said with a smile “We have time for a final question.” Although a large number of people began raising hands and chatting with one another. A short man with brown hair and a worn shirt was chosen. His shirt seemed to be advertising a band of some sort. I didn’t recognize it though. There was a large skull with blood dripping from it. “What is it you’d like to ask.” Father placed a hand on Satoshi’s shoulder while asking.

The man followed up on what father said with saying “Yea, I wanna know your reason for creating a robot. Like, what was your driving motivation.” With a small nod, Father answered his question, his interest peaking. “Honestly, when I first started this project I never expected it to be completed. I started back in high school coding this as an experiment. But for my thesis back in high school, I spoke about the concept of artificial life and the impacts on modern society. I saw the way the world was and wanted to do something to help it. These AI can perform surgeries, become nannies with children, doctors, or anything we can. The only difference is that they can do things better than we can. They are not meant to take jobs or livelihoods away from us. Rather I have created them to make our lives better. They wouldn’t work on their own, but they would work alongside a human performing the job. They would help through the process of the jobs they’re doing.”

I knew there were more to the story, the failures and triumphs he had. I remember the nights he’d stay up working, even when dawn had long cracked over the horizon I could still hear him working. His fingers would dance gracefully over the keys of his computer, his own ballroom. I would hear his sighs when the program wouldn’t work, or a new error occurred. I remember nagging him to sleep, even when I knew he wouldn’t. The meals I would make for him so he would eat. I did many things, and there were many things I could not do. I had school to focus on, so I couldn’t watch him during the day. Mom left years ago. Their marriage just didn’t work. “Sometimes people fall out of love.” I remember her saying when I was eight as they tried to explain the best they could to a child. Even before mom left… I can remember Father working on this. As I got older his determination grew. “I’ll create a safe world for you.” he would often say to me. I could only smile at the thought of it now. His dream a reality. Thousands of his product being produced and sold to both companies and people. Satoshi is unlike the others because he wasn’t meant to be a doctor or a lawyer. He was meant to be my friend, my father’s friend, a friend to the world. A kind leader to help guide me. Above this, he is one of the few to test the new parts that are being created for every day AI. Other AI test the parts made exclusively for job related AI. My Father’s goal is to integrate his AI into everyday life and better the lives of those who use his AI.

When the man received his answer to his question, and I once again found myself, in reality, he walked off the stage with a security guard following behind. My Father walked to the front of the state, nearly at the edge and began to speak. “Thank you all for coming, and I hope you were able to see the abilities that AI have in this world. I know plenty of questions still remain among you. Over time I hope those questions are answered, or you can post them on our site under the Q&A forms.” His smile was wide, although I could tell he was beginning to become tired of being on the stage. He by far has more courage than I could ever have. Even while I stood on stage, my only job to power Satoshi on, I found myself terrified. What if he didn’t turn on? What if I fell? These things flooded through my mind with a rush of adrenaline and anxiety.

My body desired to follow Father as he exited the stage with Satoshi following behind. I thought to myself how I should be heading home soon as it’s getting late. The demonstration is coming to an end, and I didn’t want to find myself fighting a crowd, or having to be escorted out by security guards. I came to the conclusion that before the outro video started and the doors opened I would leave. I walked to the closest security guard and they led me out of the room. I was able to walk by myself through the rest of the building. When I reached the parking lot outside I sat on a bench by the door and checked my phone. A news article was displayed on my notifications bar. “Protesters Grow Clo to Project Life headquarters.” Reading this headline made something in my stomach drop. I knew what they would be saying. That AI have no place in this world, that we were always going to be superior. We are the “superior race” after all. Father knew this was going to happen and so did I. We’ve been planning on what to do in the case of protests, or in worse case, riots. These protests were the reason for heavy security at debut.. There was a five minute long video popped up. This video displayed a news anchor talking as a smaller video played next to him. The video playing showed protesters breaking out into violence. A tall man slammed a shop window that displayed a sign announcing that they would be selling AI ware once their shipment arrives. I let out a heavy sigh as a frown fell across my face that was etched hard as stone. Nothing could change it. I sat for a while, watching the video over and over. I worried about the safety of father tonight. What if protestors showed up at the private demo? The location isn’t quite secret after all. A shaky sigh left my body once more. I stood from the bench, my phone tightly clenched in my hand as the video replayed. Even though I kept feeling as though I would collapse I walked to the edge of the street and waited for the taxi that was scheduled to arrive as soon as the event was over. When the taxi arrived it well beyond late. The event had already ended and floods of people were pouring out. The ride was quiet, which was exactly what I had hoped.

Upon arriving home I laid on the couch and turned on the television. Nothing on any of the channels interested me. It was the same thing on each channel. EIther news or rerun of shows that aired some time ago. My eyes grew heavy and before I knew it I had dozed off into slumber. I did not dream. I had no reason to. No world I could create in my mind could ever be perfect because nothing is. It would be a world of lies, and isn’t the world full of enough? I’d only be polluting my mind further, and driving myself further into the madness of my own humanity.