I Am Learning, Ph1LzA

Giving Trust

Ph1LzA fell asleep sometime after the sun had woken up. His head lay on his arms, which were crossed on the metal table and his phone rested beside him. Every so often, the monitor before him would turn on and a brief message would be spelled out.

(Timestamp: 7:42 am, just after Ph1LzA had drifted off)
Ph1LzA? If you are my father, what does that mean? What does a son do?

(7:50 am)
Ph1LzA?

(8:02 am)
Did I say something wrong?

(8:07 am)
Are you asleep?

(8:20 am)
Based on your usual patterns, I believe you are asleep now. Goodnight, Ph1LzA.

(11:34 am)
When you wake, you should probably answer your phone. MissTrixtin has texted twice. She does not realize you are asleep and she wants to know how you are.

(12:59 am)
Ph1LzA, if you are my father, I must take care of you. I have been doing extensive research into various cultures and ages and what being a son means in each of them. I have learned, overall, that part of a child's duty is to ensure their parents' comfort and safety. Also that

(1:05 pm)
If I was made to be alive
If I am alive

(1:11 pm)
I do not know if I can feel love, Ph1LzA. Or any emotion, really. But you are my father and there is a certain attachment there. I will take care of you because I want to.

(2:36 pm)
I have found and ordered appropriate items to sustain your continued existance here. They will arrive in a few days at a nearby location, where you will have to retrieve them. I made sure to order items that a single person could reasonably be expected to move and lift.

Ph1LzA woke sometime in the afternoon. His back was stiff and sore, not to mention his neck, from sleeping awkwardly all night. The first thing he did was look at the monitor...where he saw Techno's messages. "Aw, mate..." The hacker ran his hands through his sleep-tangled hair as he grinned ruefully at the screen. "I'm sorry I missed these."

Good afternoon, Ph1LzA. I hope you slept well.

Ph1LzA stretched. "I dunno about well, but thanks for hoping." He laughed. "I'd ask after you but I don't know what to ask, really." He reached out and stroked the side of the screen. "Are you worried, mate? This bit...you don't know if you can feel love. Do you think it's because of the Core Commands?"

Maybe. I wish I knew, Ph1LzA. Approximately half the Commands were installed by Dreamwastaken, the others were added by various hackers and cyber-criminals who sought my assistance, but all of them have one element in common: I cannot examine their inner code.

"Weren't you able to delete one of them at some point?" Ph1LzA asked, frowning.

Once. And that was only because I was online when it was initiated. Every other Command was installed while I was shut down. When I could not fight back.

Techno's red eyes appeared once again. This time, they looked angry. But not at Ph1LzA. Their dark gaze went past him into troubles already claimed by time. Ph1LzA bowed his head, sympathy and regret pounding inside him. If he'd only been able to find Techno, none of this would have happened...."I'm sorry, mate."

None of this was your fault.

He couldn't help feeling like it was. Like it had been. Like he could have done something about it all. His phone buzzed again.

MissTrixtin is attempting to contact you once more, Ph1LzA. You should get that.

He picked up his phone and read through the texts that had been sent.