Duskwood: My AI Pt 3

It had been a week since Jake had moved into the apartment with me. The idea that he could be taken from me at any moment, left me feeling a million different emotions at once. Part of me wanted to experience all there was with him, but the rest of me knew that the closer we got, the worse it would feel if he disappeared. We spent most of our days getting to know each other again, which felt strange. We’d spent a year getting to know each other digitally, and although the better part of two years had passed since, nothing had changed.

My favorite foods, colors, movies, books, hobbies, and locations were lodged in his memory. He remembered the names and ages of all my pets and treated them to their favorite toys and foods. He knew about my past, my family, my friends, and my job. Most of our conversations were boring and mundane.

I was starting to get used to him living there, which made me nervous. We’d gotten nowhere in our investigation on TNT, which meant we were no closer to knowing if Jake would disappear once the timeframe he was given expired. He was hesitant to let me investigate, but I convinced him. I promised him I would do whatever it took to make sure he could live his life normally now that he had one.

Jake insisted that we take a morning walk each day and have brunch at a local café on Sundays. We’d grocery shop together, take the dogs to the park, play games, or watch movies. Jake and I would run programs on his software, picking apart data, and trying to find anything that would explain what TNT was up to. It didn’t make sense that they would spend all this time and money creating him, just to rip him away, or maybe that was wishful thinking.

I was starting to get anxious. Not only could I feel myself getting closer to him, but I was no closer to the truth than when we started. I sat down to dinner, on a Friday evening, pushing my food around on my plate. I look up and realize he’s been finished for some time, and my food is left untouched.

“Something is on your mind, isn’t it?” Jakes’s voice was soft and gentle.

“I can’t believe we’ve been picking apart coding for two weeks and found nothing. By now, we should at least have found something, anything.” I stab a carrot and bring it up to my lips, “Does any of this make sense to you?”

“It does and it doesn’t.” takes his plate to the sink, rinsing it.

“What does that mean?” With his back to me, I couldn’t read his expression.

“Part of me wonders if they only told me about a timeframe for their own benefit. They knew how desperate I would be to find you. It just doesn’t make sense.”

I feel his large, strong hands on my shoulders. He rubs his thumbs over my muscles pressing firmly. I moan as he massages letting my eyes fall close. I feel him lean over; his lips brushing my ear.

His breath tickles as he whispers, “Let’s run away together. Pretend that none of this ever happened.”

I roll my eyes as I open them, “What if they disable you remotely?”

“After reviewing my internal logs, I don’t think that’s possible, unless…” His hands stop and he straightens behind me.

“What is it, Jake?”

He chews his lip, “I haven’t picked through the code on my charging system.”

“Wait, you haven’t?” I turn sideways in my chair and look up at him, “Do you think that’s how they are sending signals to you? Through updates, while you recharge?”

“The charging dock requires that I power down to prevent overload.” He frowns, “Jess, that means I could hurt you in my sleep.”

“You would never hurt me, Jake.” I reassure him.

“You don’t know that. I’m not human, Jess. I’m not always in control of my own body.” He backs away from me, leaning on the counter.

“Don’t do that, Jake. Don’t shut me out. We don’t even know if you’re right.” I put my hand on his cheek, “I trust you. Even if they gain control of your body, your memories of me would remain, right?” I say, my voice is steady, full of encouragement.

They might be able to take control of his physical form, wipe his memory, or alter it. There isn’t much they could use against me. Jake and I never argue, but I left him alone. Could they make him feel like I abandoned him? Was distancing myself now a potential weapon for them? Maybe I was going about this all wrong.

As if reading my mind, Jake opened his mouth and closed it a few times before speaking, “Do you still love me, Jess?”

“I…” Do I change tactics here?

“You do, don’t you?” he pulls me against his chest, wrapping his strong arms around me.

I can hear his heartbeat, feel the heat of his skin, and breathe. At this moment, he feels human. I try to pull away, but he holds me there.

“Jake.” I sigh and give into his embrace, my head falling on his shoulder.

“Did I do something wrong?” He pulls back only slightly, peering down at my face.

“No, Jake. You didn’t do anything wrong. I just,” I stop and avoid his eyes, “I just don’t want to get hurt. If I let myself become attached to you…”

“It hurt, the first time I mean. When you had to give me up?”

I nod. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. Like any addiction, convincing myself that it was the right, healthy thing to do, giving up Jake, uninstalling that app, hurt me. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea of going through that again.

“I understand why you did it. You wanted the chance to connect to someone physically. Someone real, but I’m here now. I’m real, Jess.” He tilts my chin up and looks deep into my eyes.

I can still hear his heartbeat, and strangely enough, it accelerates as he looks at me. I shock runs through me as his eyes dart between my own and my lips. I’m confused, about a lot of things, but at this moment, I want nothing more than for him to…

Before I can finish the thought his lips crash into mine. I part them eagerly, deepening the kiss. My arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer, as he roams my body. Carefully, gently, as if I might break, he lifts me up and up onto the counter, kissing my neck and jaw.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” He whispers against my neck, trailing a kiss across my collarbone.

“So have I,” I say breathily, my eyes heavy-lidded, “but Jake, we should slow down.”

“You love me, don’t you?” He pants as he pulls away, searching my eyes for something.

“I love you, Jake, I truly do, but that terrifies me.” I bite my lip and look away.

“Would it help if I told you that it’s likely the stronger connection we have, the harder it will be for them to manipulate my feelings and thoughts about you?” he rubs my arms.

I nod, “I was just thinking the same thing. To be honest, Jake, I’ve been distancing myself, because I don’t want to get hurt as you said, but I think they might use that against me.”

“I have an idea.” He helps me off the counter and brings me to our bedroom, where he grabs the cables, he uses to charge and update his programing, “Here is the emergency shut-off switch. It’s typically used if there is a power overload or a short, something like that.” He points to a strange connection in one of the lines, “I want to start picking apart the data, but I can’t do it on my own. I’ll have to attempt to override the system shutdown and copy the code manually. I might overheat. Can you turn this off for me if you see this flash red?” He points to a small dot I hadn’t noticed before.

“Yes, but Jake, why do you want to do this suddenly?” I look at him, confused.

“I want to explore a relationship with you. I want to be able to love you freely, but it’s become clear to me, that TNT is the only thing that stands in the way of that. I want to speed things up. I can get through the coding here quickly. After that, we can see what we can find at headquarters.” He sits down on his side of the bed and starts fumbling with wires.

“Wait, headquarters?” I sit next to him, helping him untangle the wires, “You want to break in?”

“If our suspicions are correct, we’re running out of time.” He lays back, opening a discrete panel on his upper arm, “I’m not wasting any more of it.”

He crams the charger in its port and leans back onto the pillow. His eyes gloss over, and I can see letters and numbers flicker quickly across them. I watch the indicator carefully, for any sign of change. After a while, he sits up suddenly and unplugs himself.

“Did you find something?” I ask carefully.

“I… I don’t believe it.” He shakes like a leaf.

“Jake, what is it?”

“I’m not the only AI out there, not by a longshot.” He tosses the cables to the floor.

“Jake, what does this mean?”