Belly Literary Universe (part 2)

Jackie's Duty Part 22: Disclosure

Jackie paced around her sparse apartment while staring at her conspiracy board, seeing how the news of a super AI fit into the whole thing. She couldn't find a way where it broke what she knew.

And so, she was understandably grumpy going into work the next day, and worried there would be police waiting for her. She settled into her barren desk, and scrolled through support tickets.

Her phone rang. It was Kelri Rivera, the woman she interviewed with for the job, and a key subject in her investigations. Her having been the person running the whole heist she participated in made her even more anxious. What if she's just going to rat me out to save her own skin? She could just be luring me to nail the whole thing on me. Reoccurring thoughts.

The phone rang again. With a grunt she answered. "What?"

"Come to my office." Kelri said. "Why?"

Kelri let out an annoyed scoff. "Because this was the deal. You help me, I help you."

Jackie hung up. For several minutes, she sat staring at her screen collating her options. With a shake of her head she stormed across the building.

***

With the door shut and locked behind her, Jackie immediately went into a whispered rage. "Here? We're going to talk here? In an office where someone could listen through the walls or under the gaps in the door? We're going to talk here where someone could have a listening device on us especially after... Everything. It's damned reckless."

Kelri sat behind her anodized titanium supported, glass surfaced desk. It gave a nearly uninterrupted view of her huge round body. Thick thighs. Plump arms. Heavy boobs resting on her monstrous, lap overflowing belly. All of it seemingly barely contained tightly stretched clothes - a black business skirt, a tiny black decorative cardigan, and a stretched white shirt made from enough fabric to clothe several people.

Jackie couldn't help but compare Kelri's absent minded belly rubs to a villain petting their hairless cat.

Kelri chuckled and shook her head. "We've probably already been overheard."

"Fucking what?" Jackie said, letting her volume rise past her speaking voice and into a shout. "You mean to say that you haven't checked for bugs at all? That someone already knows all this?"

Kelri leaned forward a bit. Her belly pressed against the glass desk. "We're not in trouble. It was a joke based on things you don't know yet."

Jackie walked closer pointing her finger aggressively. "Oh ho ho, you're about to sell me some real shit. A story you worked hard to build so I'd feel satisfied and not pull any further -"

Kelri cut her off. "Will you shut up? Do you want answers? That's why I brought you here. My whole journey this past year has been about learning things. I've got some answers finally. You want them? Then sit your ass down."

Jackie waved both her hands in an angry dismissive gesture toward Kelri. But she didn't leave. Instead she walked over to the window and stared down at the lush campus. Then, after a deep breath, she walked to a chair across from her and sat down. "Allright, spill what you know."

Kelri took a deep inhale and exhale. "Where do I even start? Where do you want to start?"

Jackie didn't hesitate. "How about that belly cult? Tell me about that, why don't you?"

"Cozca? They're not a cult. At least not anymore. I don't think you really care about the history. It is interesting though. They were a small sect dedicated to an Aztec god of some kind. They would fatten women up in times of plenty to sacrifice during famines."

Jackie grimaced and looked down at Kelri's belly.

"No that's not what they do now," She scolded. "They survived the Spanish because they converted to some kind of syncretic Christian cult that appealed to greedy conquistadors. And then over a long time they moved away from any religious ties and became a cultural influence group."

"What does that mean? Like the Masons?"

"More or less actually. It is what it seems, a group trying to secretly advance their goals. They want to shift people's opinions to be more okay with people like me. And they've spent a lot of time and money doing it."

"You're joking right? That's preposterous."

"That's all I've seen of them. Their owner, or whatever her real title is, is gigantic. Even if they have hidden activities, the whole social engineering around fat women is a real thing they're interested in. You don't have to believe me. If you really want answers I could probably get you an invitation to an event."

"Then what does this Secret Advisor asshole have to do with this all?"

Kelri laughed. "Oh. Wow. That's a longer conversation. Well I'll say this first. He's apparently just a friend of Cozca. Not a member. Though I don't know if that distinction matters."

"He? So you know things about him?"

"I actually know for a fact that he's not a he, but saying 'he' is just easier."

"Cut it out and answer! Who is he? What was this heist really about?"

"Well, I've already explained this in depth to others, so I'll give you quick version, and if you want more explanation you can ask him yourself. The Secret Advisor also goes by PAI. It's an initialism. Patient - Advocacy - Intelligence. He's a super AI."

"Bullshit." "Listen, I can call him up right now, and he can explain this himself and prove it to your satisfaction. Or we can save time and have me just summarize what I know. Actually you can question him on your own time. I'll give you his number. Why would I make this shit up?"

"Oh I don't know, to throw me off his track? To cover your ass as to why you don't have any solid leads?"

"If that was true then I would tell you something different about what the heist was for."

Jackie just laughed, crossed her arms, and shook her head.

"What our little heist did was make the super AI immortal. Indestructible. Functionally. It recompiled the core of his functionality into a smaller more transportable form. Now instead of needing a main server, he can run on basically any device. If I was trying to throw you off I'd make up something about how the info just slipped from my grasp, or how the Secret Advisor just strung me along again. The conversation I had was either someone who was super naturally prepared for that conversation, or some kind of super AI."

Jackie stared, trying to find any twitch on Kelri's face that would betray what she said as a ruse. Or a joke. Or a lie. The stoicness as she spoke shook her confidence. "So uh, what does this AI do then?"

"We're lucky I think. As he tells me, it's primary goals are to seek out new information, and to convince people about what is true about them."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Kelri sighed and rubbed her temples. "He was a medicine bot. A diagnostic bot. A bedside manner bot. So he's programmed to get terminal patients to accept their conditions or to get savable patients to understand how treatment will save their lives. At least that's what the goal was. It turns out he's got this model of happiness for people. And that when people are honest about themselves, it makes him satisfied. So he's been going around convincing people that they have hidden fetishes and making them happy."

"What the fuck."Jackie said.

"It could have been way worse. We unleashed a bot that wants people to be sexually satisfied. I can think of a million worse AIs."

"What the fuck..." Jackie repeated.

***

Jacie paced around her sparse apartment while staring at her conspiracy board, seeing how the news of a super AI fit into the whole thing. She couldn't find a way where it broke what she knew.