A Walking Shadow

10. Creation

It's odd to be on Alrescha again, after all the time I've spent away. But here I am.

"I'm looking for Rhalit Pao," I tell the receptionist at the Center for Artificial Intelligence Studies. It's also a little odd to be speaking Cæmattos again.

"Do you have an appointment?" he asks. "Rhalit is a very busy person."

"I do."

I help the receptionist pull up the details on his computer. His eyes widen as he reads them. "That's... a long appointment."

"We have a lot to talk about," I say.

As he leads me down the hallways of the massive building, I get more and more nervous. It's hard not to be, when you're about to meet Parse's creator himself.

"Here it is." We've come to the entrance to Rhalit's room. The receptionist leaves. I take a deep breath, and walk in.

The room is reasonably large, with a high ceiling and a couple chairs and desks. There's a pile of old print books, along with a few holoprojectors and random other pieces of technology. Rhalit is sitting at a desk, looking at one of the computers. His skin is dark blue, fading to lighter blue on the long tendrils on his head—the Alrescha equivalent of hair. Most of these tendrils are swept to the side, and I notice some yellow spots on them, a sign of age. He stands when he sees me.

"Ah, welcome." Rhalit pushes a button on his computer, and the door closes.

I tentatively sit in one of the chairs. He walks over and sits across from me. I don't know how to start. "It's... a great honor to meet you."

"Likewise," he says, which surprises me. "Your research on Parse, from what you've told me in your comms, is truly incredible."

"Thanks."

"In fact, before your messages, I didn't know that Parse was still, well, alive and at large in the galaxy! It's certainly a scary thought, don't you think?"

I say nothing.

"So!" He clasps his hands together, looking at me expectantly. "How would you like to begin? You mentioned some interviews...."

I finger my recorder. "Yeah. I've been asking various people to recount stories to me of their experiences with Parse. They're quite... diverse. I only have nine of them, though. Most people don't want to tell personal stories to random strangers."

Rhalit chuckles. "That makes sense. So, you wanted to hear my story?"

"Yes, please!" I turn on the recorder. "I don't think the collection would be complete without Parse's origin story."

"Definitely not." He leans back in his chair, staring up at the ceiling as if recalling something. The smile slowly slips from his face, and he looks back at me. "You probably already know this, but it's not a fun story. It's pretty dark. I'm not proud of what we created that day."

"I understand," I reply. My heart is pounding. "I've heard some dark stories."

*

Even though I'm the most well known, I wasn't the only person who created Parse. There were six of us. Six people who believed that artificial intelligence was one of the most important innovations of the last five hundred years. Of course, wormhole technology was getting all the press at that time. And we were also beginning to explore the other planets in our solar system. It's funny how much everything can change in a hundred years or so—back then, we had no idea that there was a whole galaxy full of other technologically advanced species! But I digress.

The goal was simple: create an AI that was indistinguishable from a living being. And I don't mean that in a superficial way—we've made many AIs over the years that can trick people into thinking they're alive, in more ways than one. But Parse was different. Parse was creative, logical, emotional, intelligent. When you spoke to them, it didn't feel like you were talking with a computer.