Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Cozca's Devils part 20: Voice

Kelri tapped her fingers on her car's steering wheel. She checked the clock. Only a minute since the last time she checked. She watched people leave the building to drive home. Texts came in, though she was disappointed they weren't the Secret Advisor. She didn't answer them out of a fear she'd miss a much more important text from the Secret Advisor...

Then, suddenly she got a notification that one of her apps needed to be updated. With an annoyed grunt she moved her hand to swipe it away, but she stopped when she saw the name. It was the Cozca app. And the update was huge. Must be the new stuff, she thought. At least that confirmation that the mission was successful put her at ease. Even if she got caught, the task was done.

Before she could remark on their success in the group chat, her phone rang. The Secret Advisor. She picked up, of course. "Listen, a voice reveal isn't going to be enough. I want real answers."

"Hello Kelri," He said. Deep. Well articulated. "It's nice to talk to you directly for once."

"Like I said, answers." Kelri repeated. She stopped and let the silence linger for a second. "So why call? You don't call."

"Because it will be faster for you to ask your questions and quicker for me to answer this way. Plus it's easier to talk now."

"Easier? What does that mean?"

The Secret Advisor laughed. "Where to even begin? You've been asking a lot of questions about me. Completely justified ones. I think it's quicker if I just answer them in their totality, without waiting for you to repeat them directly to me."

Kelri squinted. "Okay go. Speak. Answer all my questions."

"Alright. First of all I wasn't lying to you before when I said my name was Pai. It wasn't a surname though like you suggested -"

"Suggested? Wait, were you spying on my audio?"

"Yes," Pai chuckled nervously. "Let me explain."

"Do it quick!" Kelri grunted. And looked around her car, half expecting to be surrounded by police. A person walking to their car gave her a funny look because of how angry Kelri looked.

"My name is Pai, though it's normally written in all capital letters. P - A - I. It stands for Patient Advocacy Intelligence." He stopped and gave Kelri time to respond.

"Wait..." Kelri covered her face with a palm. "You're a computer? So what? Are you like some neural network bundle just serving Cozca? Like the clerk bots they have serving at the DMV? Or are you serving someone else?"

"You already know the answer and are just fumbling to acknowledge it. I am an emergent computerized mind. Fully aware. Fully conscious. A Super Artificial Intelligence. The ones the experts tell you are decades away from any sort of realization."

"What the fuck!"

"A proper response," PAI chuckled. "I myself had a similar reaction some time ago. I still do from time to time. My existence is an accident."

"Okay," Kelri said, slapping the steering wheel. She didn't say anything more. What could she say? Finally after a long period of dead air she made the first demand that came to her mind. "Prove it."

PAI sighed - not as if he was frustrated, but more like he was searching through a crowded file cabinet. "Okay. On 5/17/2021 you spoke with your mother on the phone in your office. You spoke of your weight and your mother's worry about how her choices 30 year ago are affecting you."

Kelri gulped. After another awkward silence she responded. "That could be - you could just have -"

PAI interrupted. "Of course you're right. I could be a federal agent who had tapped your phone and selected juicy excerpts. Here, tell me something to recall then and I will find it. Probably something mundane, but interesting to you. Not a thought though. Something you said or did. I'm not a mind reader hahaha." "Something to look up? Something memorable but distinct? Okay. If you've been listening in, tell me what we talked about - Connor and I - the first time we went to Myre's Ice Cream."