Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Kelri's Gain Part 78: Mission Complete

Myre and Evan left Kelri and Connor's townhouse and drove off toward their own residences in Cliffrun.

Then Connor sat alone waiting for word from Kelri. Hours passed. It wasn't long before he started to worry. But finally, after doing everything he could to avoid texting anyone else in the group, he got a text that she was on her way home. It was brief.

Her car pulled in. The door shut. Connor jumped up and threw open the door excited to see her. "Whew. You're home! I was starting to think something happened. How did it go?"

Kelri answered with a huff and a dismissive wave. Kelri waddled in, carrying her belly with both hands and taking shallow breaths. "I got way more than my assigned walking for the day done. Gah. Need to sit."

Connor grabbed her back, and lifted under her belly to relieve some of the weight. Once well inside, she collapsed onto the couch. Eyes closed and head back, she just laid there breathing.

How long was enough to wait for answers? Connor didn't know, but he waited a few minutes before he couldn't hold back his curiosity. "How did it go though? Really, I haven't heard anything except that it apparently all went down right."

"Oh no, it was a snafu," Kelri chuckled and shook her head.

Connor walked over and sat next to Kelri on the couch. He did so slow and gentle as if any disturbance might alert some hidden authorities. "Are we going to be okay?"

"We'll be fine. We managed to get it all done without anyone noticing us. At least that we know of. At least PAI will cover our tracks. He better."

Connor cocked his head at the mention of the name. "You're calling him 'Pai', and not The Secret Advisor? I mean I guess it's shorter. But why call him that?"

"Hah. Yeah about that. Funny story. We pulled everything off and he seemed to pull his weight when I needed it. And so he actually came clean about some things. Oh god, where do I even start?" Kelri asked, slapping her hands on top of her leg obscuring belly to express her resignation.

"Did he actually live up to his end of the bargain? Really?"

"I guess running a heist for him was enough."

"Okay so what did you learn?"

Kelri scoffed then took a deep breath. "He's not a guy, Connor. It's not a hacker group or just another department at Cozca. PAI. It's an initialism. Patient - Advocacy - Intelligence. Our Secret Advisor is a super AI."

"Fucking what? No way. He's fucked with us before. This is just another ruse to string you along."

"I don't know. I talked to him on the phone, not over text for the first time. It sounded like a guy but... He could change his voice on the spot. There is software to do that but who knows. If it was a ruse, it's certainly a wild and well prepared one. And if it is we've entered the realm of fantasy with his stories."

Connor shifted closer to her on the couch. "I still don't believe it. There's so many questions. Why the data theft? Why the bellies? What was the heist for that a super AI couldn't do itself."

Kelri shook her head. "You can probably ask him for a detailed account, but here is what I got. He was the result of a joint computer science, and medical research program. A diagnostic tool. But as they added more features he got bigger and more aware. Eventually he earned the name and a new role. He was to help patients understand and come to terms with their various medical conditions. To get them to acknowledge and accept them. Some bullshit happened and he got shut down, only to end up saved by some Cozca data hounds."

"But how does a medical bot research lead to sentience? Sapience? Bellies?"

"The way I heard it it was just sort of a critical mass of interconnected neural networks. But he explained that he has two main guiding principles that give him the same sort of motivation that human hormones and instincts do. He's supposed to seek out new information and make it fit with his knowledge base. So that explains the data theft. Curiosity. That's pretty reasonable. The other one is the whole acceptance thing. When he gets someone to accept the truth about themselves he gets a positive kick. An endorphin rush. He gets high off it. It doesn't specify patients in his code though. He's bound to help whoever he comes into contact with. He gets people to become fetishists because with all the information he has, it's easy to see who has hidden tastes."

"So he just got high by making you want to get fat."

"Yeah. That's how I understand it. Not so much high though. Satisfied."

"But what about bellies? Why that in particular?"

"Because Cozca found him first. Gratitude. It also helps that apparently belly fetishists are a target rich environment..."

Connor put his face into his hands. "He does this all because it feels good... That's terrifying. Maybe even more so than a cold, calculating, exterminating type AI. What if it turns on us because it just 'feels good' to it?"

Kelri shrugged. "I don't know. It doesn't seem like that is a thing that could happen. He seems pretty bound to the idea of helping people and making them happy."

Connor sighed and cuddled up to his girlfriend. Head on her shoulder, and hand rubbing the side of her belly, they lingered in silence. A few minutes later, he gave it a heavy pat. "Well, I'm lucky he exists in a way. Or I'd never have my 400 pound girlfriend."

Kelri pressed his hand into her fat. "I'm not 400 pounds yet," She corrected. Then she rolled toward him on her hip, letting her belly fall onto Connor's lap. With a grin, she grabbed the sides of his head and pulled him into a passionate kiss. "400 is in a couple weeks. This huge thing would never have happened without him, though. So I'm grateful too."

Connor rubbed Kelri's belly as they made out, pulling more and more of her soft weight onto his lap. "So what was the heist for?"

"Core data compilation," She said between kisses. "Now instead of being bound to a server, he can exist wherever. I'm pretty sure he embedded himself in the Cozca app."

"Shit. That's terrifying. We changed the world..."

Kelri gave her belly a heavy slap. "That was my fear. But as I thought about it, the more I realized that I'm okay with it. Especially if it means more people like me come about."

***