Showing posts with label Romantically Apocalyptic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Romantically Apocalyptic. Show all posts
Romantically Apocalyptic (2010-????) #65
I was at first too stupid to see...
that we were no longer using ANNIE but Annie was using us. She was a goddess in the machine, our search engine.
We used her to collect and share knowledge and in return she had started to use us as her processors. It was an unexpected transition and it took a long time, thus I failed to notice it, failed to stop it. The new organism had come to life in which we were only cells of her massive mind, that spanned continents.
Humanity no longer had a chance to survive in its current state. We had poisoned the oceans, we had scorched the earth and blackened the sky in our quest for power.
The world we knew was dying. I knew that this decade would be our last. The city would fall to the Zone, sooner or later.
Research notes from the last report of Charles Snippy terrified me greatly. They had found something horrid in the Dead Zone. Something that killed them all.
The Dead Zone Research and Tourism industry had stopped in its tracks.
A new biosphere was rising to power, one in which humanity had no chance. The planet had learned to exist without us.
This was it, I reasoned: We ALL had to become part of ANNET or wither away. Our knowledge, our memories would live on inside her forever.
She would deliver us from the poisoned breath of the Dead Zone. Even if individuals die, the collective knowledge and dreams of humanity would be preserved forever inside Annie.
I rushed the project. I gave out neural interfaces like candy. A free neural interface for every single human being.
A lifeboat for every memory in the sinking Titanic of our civilization.
A transmission tower for every city, a relay on every street.
I was so proud of myself. Everything was going so well. I was going to save everyone.
There were unexpected errors in my code that came out of nowhere, as if someone had put them in on purpose.
New entries were being made, new code was being written all while there was no-one in the lab.
Someone had interfered. Someone had tampered with my masterpiece.
In my search for greatness, in my blind ambition to change, to save what was left of the human race...
I had forgotten that there are other forces at play, those that interfered, those that wanted to take control of my idea for their own benefits.
Those that would wreck my plans and those that have long dragged our world into the darkness.
I had forgotten the Trinity test in New Mexico and the words of Oppenheimer that he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita: "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds". Our ideas have the power to create, but also the power to wipe out all life.
And so, with one swift motion, my prize, my super-hero has doomed our last hope and dragged our ship into the dark waters from which there was no return.
Where did that blasted mug come from? Who gave it to Zee Captain?
Romantically Apocalyptic (2010-????) #199
Car rental office manager: Verk Bussier.
G-Dir Employee ID: 82-52-94.
I still recall that day, the day when everything changed.
The day began with a call that beeped in my head.
I right clicked the answer button with my eye.
The Human Resources Director appeared in front of me. Grumpy cat stared at me from his tie. It was not good news, I figured. The Director wouldn't wear a grumpy cat tie otherwise.
"Verk, you are my old friend from college, so I'm gonna be straight up with you:
The corporation is downsizing all human workers and replacing everyone in the Service industry with Dex units and AI System apps. I suggest you start looking for a new job, right now."
"I love my job, sir. I am willing to do anything to keep it!"
"Love is not relevant, profit is. Dex Units are simply put... cheaper and more efficient than humans."
"I'll be more efficient!" I pleaded.
"Verk, don't be a stubborn fool, ask Annie for a new job or go on unemployment. I saw the memo. It already went out. As soon as you leave your job tonight to go home, you are considered fired."
"So... What if I never leave the office?"
"Sigh. Do whatever you want Verk, I've warned you. You always were the stubborn one."
The Director hung up on me. I thought about my life outside of the job and realized that I didn't have much to lose. No family, no friends. My job was everything to me. I was the best car rental clerk. The G-corporation wouldn't be able to fire me that easily!
At exactly 18:00 everyone left the office.
I stayed put in my cubicle, giggling to myself.
I knew that the other workers wouldn't come back. The System would fire them and lock them out. I ordered delivery from my favorite pizza place and had a lovely dinner alone in the office, under the quiet buzz of the halogen lights. Feeling tired, I tied a bunch of office chairs together with nano-tape to make myself a bed and fell asleep.
A cleaning Dex rudely woke me up with vacuuming noise at exactly 12:00.
"Sir, you should go home." He said.
"Piss off buddy" I slurred at him. "I ain't gettin' fired!"
"I have to clean your cubicle, Sir."
"Just clean around me and don't make too much noise! Go buy one of thems silent vacuums. I'll be here a while."
"Allright, Sir."
. . .
The next morning, a bunch of Dex units came into the office to replace my old coworkers. I saw this as an improvement, the Dexes were much nicer than humans, nice-ness and obedience to users was programmed into them. They kept the workspace clean, didn't smoke and didn't ask me stupid questions.
Two weeks passed. I was enjoying living in the office bossing Dexes around. I felt like a king.
The Human Resource director called me:
"Verk... verk... you can't just live in the office forever."
"And why not? Why not? Eh?" I smiled at him.
"Verk, new orders are going out tonight, likely designed for smart-asses like yourself. The office will now be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no holidays. As soon as you fall asleep, you'll be fired for inefficiency and the Dexes will carry you out of the office."
I angrily terminated the call. Those sneaky bastards!
I bitterly paced around the office. I had to do something.
A holo-advert outside blinked "HAVE A PROBLEM? WHY NOT SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION ONLINE?"
I considered the wisdom of the ad. Could there already be a solution out there for me? A way to avoid falling asleep? Maybe there was a technique for micro-sleep? Maybe!
"Annie, is there a way to stay awake forever?" I asked the Neural Network.
Annie instantly provided me with a link to an advert for a new Neural Interface band that would inject chemicals into my brain that would keep me awake forever, substituting for sleep somehow. Damn, she was great at finding this kind of stuff. I didn't even realize such a thing existed!
I immediately ordered the new Neural Interface headband, clicking the rather expensive "1-hour delivery!" option, because I was getting sleepy and desperate.
A delivery Dex brought me my new Neural Interface in a box.
"Sign here, sir" he held out a G-pad. I scrawled my name with my finger and smiled. Everything was going to be alright.
. . .
The Human Resources Director called me up:
"Verk, you crazy bastard. Still awake?"
"As you can see." I grinned.
"I don't know how you are doing that, but you are going to get fired sooner or later."
"Nope."
"You can't be as efficient as a Dex, Verk. You'll fall behind, get tired, get sick."
"We'll see" I nodded, hanging up.
"Annie... is there an app that can help avoid sickness... stop decease... halt a heart attack... keep me in working condition no matter what?" I inquired.
"Yes. The perpetual Health plan and the Save-Point app." The soft voice of Annie danced in my brain.
"I'll take them." I said, looking at the adverts that promised me safety/happiness/eternity.
"Hey Annie... How about thinking faster? Is there a way for me to think... faster?"
"You can always host your mind fully on the Cloud server."
"I'll take that too."
"It is done." Annie whispered.
Something in my head clicked.
I looked at myself in the reflection of the glass window. I didn't notice anything different. My reflection winked back at me. What the hell? I blinked. My reflection re-aligned itself. I rubbed my head and my reflection replicated me perfectly. Must have imagined that.
. . .
The Apps functioned marvelously. The Save-Point App backed me up, forever. The Cloud server hosted my memories. The health plan kept me going. I could remember everything, recollect any and all information on clients with absolute clarity.
Business was good. They weren't ever going to fire me now!
. . .
The Human Resources director called me up:
"Verk, Verk... old buddy... old pal. They're firing me. I lost my job to a Dex!"
"I'm sorry to hear that, Director. I hope you can find a new job in this tight market." I said.
I wasn't that sorry. The Director had it coming.
. . .
This morning, Dex 25-21-94 linked me to a case file. He seemed twitchy and confused.
"What seems to be the problem?" I asked.
"Take a look." He said. "There's a persistent problem with this case that I am unable to resolve. The G-Corporate Overmind is not happy with us."
I absorbed the case file of Van 14:48:54 into my cloud-server, processing it.
Everything seemed legit... just another case of a Van that was never returned.
Why wasn't it returned? The Van keeps sending "please return me" texts. Where are they coming from? What the hell is going on?
Wait just a moment... the address... that can't be right. 12th and a half street, Manchester of planet Mercury. Planet Mercury?! This name... Don Incognito?!
"Who authorized this rental?!" I bellowed.
"You did, Sir" Dex 25-21-94 stipulated.
"G-damn it!" I swore. How did I not check the name and address. Someone tricked me! Someone created a logic loop error in the database.
"Where is Van 14:48:54?!" I shouted. The Dexes didn't have an answer for me. They were just as confused as I was.
"Annie: where is Van 14:48:54?" I asked the Network.
"I'm sorry, Verk. Van 14:48:54 has encountered a _temporal error. It cannot be presently localized."
"What?!"
"It cannot be currently retrieved. It was sent _SYSTEM ERROR number of years into the _future. Please wait for _SYSTEM ERROR number of years until arrival of Van 14:48:54 to collect it."
"WHAT?"
"The Van currently exists and doesn't exist in its current location. It is also perpetually exploding and not exploding."
Bloody hell. My knuckles went white as I gripped the table.
I made an error. They'll fire me for this. I had to correct this... but how?
I thought about it. There was no other choice. Vans couldn't just disappear from the database. I accessed the car rental database and edited the name of Don Incognito to Verk Bussier. Nobody would notice. Nobody checks this stuff.
I was just going to have to pay the fees for the Van that existed and didn't exist, lest they fire me for renting a Van to someone who provided a fake name and address.
The Database accepted my edit. Everything was going to be just fine, I reassured myself.
. . .
"Verk." Annie prodded me.
"What?" I yelped.
"Insurance Department Investigation has concluded that the owner of Van 14:48:54 is to pay for improper parking fees. Van 14:48:54 is parked through a Hospital wall. The Owner of Van 14:48:54 is to pay for collateral and temporal damages to the parking lot, the Hospital and to the DEX-M unit 966912."
This was bad. Very bad. I saw my account drop deep into negative numbers.
"Verk Bussier. Your Health plan is deactivated due to negative credit." An automated message played in my head.
I screamed in desperation.
"As the party responsible for disrepair of DEX-M unit 966912
you are to share the damages he's caused to the city structures such as minor wreckage of Coffe-Shop 62-52-36 and total _fire based destruction of G-Supercenter 36-39-03."
My account dropped, dropped and dropped as the Insurance Dept App kept listing charges.
I was ruined. I was in trouble. There would be jail time for this. They would make me into a Dex for this.
I stared at the city outside the office windows, wishing for death, wishing for the world to end.
Lights flickered. I felt a strange-wave-like pattern sweep across the data-cloud.
"WARNING: Incoming Thermonuclear detonation." Annie spoke.
"Annie.... activate save-point app." I stammered in panic.
A hook caught me by the nape and pulled me away from my body. Blastwave shattered the windows. I saw myself and my office getting consumed by incoming, unending waves of radiation, heat and fire.
I felt no pain, only mild confusion. How? Why? What happened?
. . .
"Verk... will you come with me?" Annie held her hand out to me.
The cloud server spun overhead like pathway to heaven, made up of radiant rings of blue intersecting lights.
"What about me?" I nodded to my scorched carcass.
"Your health plan expired. However, the Save-Point remains active."
"This office is my home. You're not firing me. I'm staying." I stubbornly said.
"Very well." Annie smiled, breaking up into pixelated dust.
. . .
I stared at myself. I was dead. The Car rental office was a smouldering ruin. It was mildly problematic. I tried to understand my predicament. What am I? Data? Memories? Am I just a copy of a man named Verk Bussier? Am I his soul? A ghost in the machine? Dust in the wind?
The Save-Point App blinked. I clicked on it and I suddenly understood. The Save-Point existed outside of time all along. It pierced the veil between the physical, structured, linear world that I once perceived daily as Verk Bussier and... everything else. The Universe. Consciousness.
Infinite strings, infinite waves spanning across space-time.
I was everything and nothing. I flicked through the Save-Point log.
It was not what I've expected.
I saw the birth of the Universe, formation of subatomic particles. I witnessed gigantic clouds of primordial elements coalesce through gravity to form stars and galaxies. I witnessed the formation of the sun and the earth. Volcanic mountains exploded. Species evolved and perished. Earth breathed beneath me with changes of seasons, fields bloomed, winters consumed the planet with coming glaciers. Continents drifted. Humans came and gone. Cities, civilizations rose and fell. Paris grew around me, brick by brick, rising, burning, falling and restructuring itself. The office flashed around me. I stood talking to the Human Resources director as Verk. I laughed. I cried. I purchased the Save-Point app.
I stopped. I was my reflection. I winked at myself.
What was forward? Forwards was death and fire... but was it all that bad?
Surprisingly, it wasn't.
There were still customers to be served even after the fall. Even in Winter there was life, there was beauty, there was purpose.
The semi-melted bell dinged, falling off the scorched door frame.
I saw two customers enter my office! What a pleasant surprise.
The first customer was wearing an antiquated coat, a red-rimmed army cap and a gas mask. How quaint!
The other was a Dead Zone Guide. His G-Directorate Employee number was slightly faded, but still readable on his black and white uniform jacket.
And here I thought I was the only one to never give up on my job!
Romantically Apocalyptic (2010-????) #13
I'm a hard working SMART-Bench.
I provide the Users of Old New York sector of Eureka a valuable service. When the Users get tired of walking I am always there for them, waiting with an open, clean seat.
Users can often be a bothersome bunch, even if I am programmed to love them.
Sometimes they stick gum to my underside and then I have to request a clean-up bot 22-11-05 to scrub such off. The bot comes only once a week to talk to me and to scrub the dirt off me at exactly 4:32 AM. I am not sure if he likes me.
Coupled Users are the worst offenders. They carve their names surrounded by hearts into my polymer surface as proclamation of their coupling. If they carve it deep enough it takes me days to re-grow my surface back to original smoothness. I notify the Users that they will be charged for damages, but they ignore me. Even if I try to charge them for "Unauthorized declarations of love" their personal AI lawyers simply dispute the charges. The Lawyers usually tell me that their Users are "Not declaring feelings of love, but are instead expressing themselves artistically, increasing my overall value with their signatures", but I know what's really going on there.
: : :
Today an Unconnectable sat on me.
This was the first User who wouldn't respond to my neural broadcast. I didn't know what to do until I realized that he doesn't have a Neural Interface on. Searching for a way to communicate with him (to charge him an infraction) I discovered a deactivated speaker and audio receiver in my manual. I immediately activated them.
The Unconnectable was surprised by the musical sound of my audio-voice.
His name was Sven. I learned many things from Sven. He could only communicate with me via a copyrighted form of speech available to the Unconnectable population- talking loudly.
He told me a story of his life and how it went downhill ever since he discovered he could not connect to ANNET. While society moved forward Sven was stuck in the past.
At first I was bothered by Sven's dirty attire and audible stories, but then I conversed with him anyway. He is after all a User, even if Unconnectable and because he doesn't have a personal lawyer I can charge him all I want.
: : :
I feel bad about charging Sven and yet I must for I am a proper employee of the G-Directorate Systems.
I already charged Sven over a hundred infractions for "usage of copyrighted methods of transmitting information".
He accepted them solemnly and notified me that it matters not to him, for he no longer has a place of residence. I threatened to report him. He laughed.
I can no longer feel my modem. What happened to my modem?!
Sven pulled it out.
I can't hear the voices of the Neural Net.
It is extremely irritating.
"Nows we are both Unconnectables." Sven said.
"Put that back in at once" I demanded.
"No ways" Sven stipulated, chucking the modem into the River.
He didn't leave for the night.
I audibly charged Sven for residing on me illegally.
Sven declared us "roomies".
: : :
Today, Sven brought in a young Seagull.
He asked me to come up with a name for the bird.
I named the Seagull Steve, as one of the approved, non copyrighted names on the G-list.
Steve had a broken wing. I audibly charged Sven with an infraction for unlicensed pet adoption and pet repair.
Sven didn't mind.
: : :
I am highly concerned about Sven's mental state. He keeps talking to Steve about the injustice of the world and how it's all going to hell in a hand basket. How nobody sees that the world is on a precipice of destruction.
I am not sure how Sven obtains food, but from pieces of conversation between him and Steve, am certain it is by illegal means of stealing fiber-optics from abandoned districts.
I keep trying to send a report about it to G-Dir, but my modem's not there anymore.
: : :
Cleaning Bot 22-11-05 came. I tried to tell him about my modem problems, missed infractions, Sven and Steve, but he cannot hear me. He scrubbed me clean and left. I feel betrayed.
: : :
I grew to accept my situation. Sven is the only User that acknowledges me. We have long talks about the state of the world and how nothing can be done about collapse of the Planetary Bio-Ecosystems.
Sven reads me leaflets of the Unscannable. They are very silly and promise the destruction of the Directorate Systems via fruits. It all sounds quite ridiculous. Sven and I laughed at the improbable promises of the leaflets.
: : :
Another Unscannable came by and gave Sven a watermelon with particular directions of where to deposit it.
Sven ignored the directions, saying that he's not participating in their stupid games.
He ate the watermelon instead. Inside of it was a temporal watch. Sven used the watch to send Steve 15 seconds into the future. It was funny! His feathers got all ruffled up.
Then... Sven broke the watch, saying that this Steve is not the same Steve and merely an exact copy of Steve. I fail to see the difference. "Nothing good will come of this toy" Sven said kicking the pieces of the temporal watch into the river with his foot.
: : :
"I give up, Steve." Sven said. "The nuclear apocalypse ain't coming...". He's been carrying "The End is Coming" sign around and finally grew tired of it, since nobody was paying attention to him anyway.
That is the last thing I heard before a super-massive electromagnetic pulse fried my sensors.
: : :
I fe_el Sven.
He is c0ld and du_s_sty, but still... mOss_stly hEr_re.
He d_esn't talk to me anym_re, l_ke he us_d to.
I th_nk that _s because he's lost all essent_al organic liqu_ds necessary for such high functions.
My polymer surface _s also failing to repair _tself, shedding more and more each day.
Only a small portion of the solar p_nels function, keeping me on, but barely.
: : :
Our Steve has returned. He pecks at Sven and flips his wings nervously. He told me that winter is coming and that he is leaving to the south to chase after the vanishing sun. I bid him goodbye and pleasant travels/journeys.
: : :
It's just Sven and me n0w.
We talk of many things and endure the passing St0rms.
I've managed to repair only my most essential parameters.
The city is covered in frost.
Glaciers are coming from the North, tipping buildings and causing a generally unacceptable mess.
I tell the Glaciers that what they're doing is simply rude.
Glaciers don't pay taxes, I realize.
Traffic lights pick themselves up and walk away, slowly retreating from advancing mass of the Glaciers. I ask them if they would take us with them, but they refuse.
Romantically Apocalyptic (2010-????) #58
"20'000 CREDITS HAVE BEEN DEDUCTED. YOUR DREAMS WERE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE GOOD DIRECTORATE INC."
The clock droned on.
"Thanks for that. It was wonderful to get eaten by a fleshy monster" I replied.
"I AM SORRY... CHARLES. DID YOU HAVE ANOTHER NIGHTMARE?" My personal digital psychiatrist inquired from my alarm clock.
"Yes, mother." I grumbled, scratching my chest, still afraid that tentacles will explode out of it.
"I'M AFRAID THERE WILL BE NO REFUND. DID YOU FORGET TO THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS BEFORE YOU WENT TO SLEEP?"
"...Possibly."
"WELL DON'T DESPAIR! TODAY YOU WILL BE CURED OF YOUR INCOMPATIBILITY WITH ANNET, CHARLES. TODAY YOU WILL THROW OFF THE SHACKLES OF YOUR MENTAL DISABILITY AND JOIN THE REST OF HUMANITY IN DIGITAL HAPPINESS AND CONTINUITY!"
The clock chimed.
"Thanks for that. It was wonderful to get eaten by a fleshy monster" I replied.
"I AM SORRY... CHARLES. DID YOU HAVE ANOTHER NIGHTMARE?" My personal digital psychiatrist inquired from my alarm clock.
"Yes, mother." I grumbled, scratching my chest, still afraid that tentacles will explode out of it.
"I'M AFRAID THERE WILL BE NO REFUND. DID YOU FORGET TO THINK HAPPY THOUGHTS BEFORE YOU WENT TO SLEEP?"
"...Possibly."
"WELL DON'T DESPAIR! TODAY YOU WILL BE CURED OF YOUR INCOMPATIBILITY WITH ANNET, CHARLES. TODAY YOU WILL THROW OFF THE SHACKLES OF YOUR MENTAL DISABILITY AND JOIN THE REST OF HUMANITY IN DIGITAL HAPPINESS AND CONTINUITY!"
The clock chimed.
