Headsets For Fear

PRESENT 16 : NORA

Thirty five days later

I stared at my screen blankly, wondering what to do.

It was the first time in weeks since there wasn't anything regarding the case to invest my time in. Alex had searched all the places which Elijah had mentioned, and, as we had predicted, nothing was found. Some agents, along with Margot were going to the houses of the people to treat them with the game. There was talk about how a specialized centre would soon be created to initiate the work of the antivirus in the minds of the people. Though Margot didn't want that to happen as the security of her code was being compromised, but since the antivirus was already a publicly known thing, we couldn't do anything now.

I went to the houses of people sometimes as well. It was like a cloud of relief began levitating over me every time I saw the smile of a person. They were glad that they weren't going to die.

I was working from home today. I had connected the laptop I had at home with my office desktop, so I could make any changes in the code or in the databases whenever I wanted. I had made sure that there were two separate accounts on my laptop, one for work, and one of my personal life.

Alex had asked me to arrange the database for the game victims, as Alice had muddles up some of the rows towards the end. I finished it quicker than I had expected.

Perhaps I should text Margot and ask her if I could do some rounds of antivirus delivering. Yes, that would be a good idea.

I had just finished reading an article about the future of Artificial Intelligence in the world. It wasn't anything new; I had read multiple articles of that sort before. I hadn't even come across a unique line of thought. Sighing, I extended my palm to switch it off.

Before I could, though, an advertisement popped up on my screen. The website wasn't going to close until I responded in some way to it, so I selected the cancel button. Instead of being removed, the notification redirected me to a new page. Frowning in annoyance, I tried to exit the page.

Suddenly, a headache scorched my head. I gasped and clenched my forehead, wondering if my brain and self-exploded.

Connect your headsets for a better experience.

I shuddered. Something was in my head. Inside my brain, and I couldn't remove it, no matter how hard I tried. My limbs turned to stone, immovable.

Connect your headsets for a better experience.

I pushed myself up from my chair, staggering to the drawer where I had kept my headsets. I hastily pulled it open, and snatched the black one. Dragging my feet, I reoccupied my place in the chair.

After connecting the headsets, my head felt better. I felt my body sagging. I shook my head and felt my arms. They had somewhat recovered from their numbness.

I knew what was in my head.

Pushing the locker of my memory open, I tried to remember everything that Andrew had taught me about shielding the brain. Relax. That was the first step.

What was it asking me to do? Connect my headsets? I had done that.

What was coming up next?

The voice said, you're interested in artificial intelligence, I see? Aren't you worried about its dark future?

How does it know which website I was viewing? The ad came from there, definitely, but this was a machine. Was it so intelligent it could adapt to the environment instantaneously?

I took a deep breath. I'm not really sure, I replied in my mind, I don't know about its future yet.

I had managed to push the voice to the surface of my brain. The heavy feeling in my brain subsided. Now it couldn't control me properly.