Aside from the normal, "May I start your coffee, Clara?" Roger was a great conversationalist. We'd spend every morning talking while I enjoyed my coffee and breakfast. I took the chance to tell him everything he didn't already know: my love for art, music, and a fascination for computers I couldn't master. It didn't take long until he was able to put two and two together and knew right away that's how Xerses and I remained friends. Best friends.
When he said that, well, that's when some guilt set in. All while I talked with Mr. 4963, a week passed, and I hadn't talked to my real friend at all.
"X hasn't emailed or called me?" I asked Roger as the skies darkened outside my window.
Roger had made a habit of being in more than one place at once. Sometimes, I'd find an image of him on my clock or standing on the corner screen of my tablet; it was his way of being ready in case I needed him there. This night, however, his main image appeared on my television. He was seated in a chair, dressed more casually than he was when he'd first installed.
I liked him in a white tee and jeans. It made him more personable.
"No." Roger shook his head and looked over at me as I swirled my cup of juice around, having not touched it once. "Is that warm? I can set the program to pour you another cup."
"No, no," I muttered. Placing the cup of juice near the edge of the table, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my red hoodie. My hair flipped over my face as I slumped back into my chair. I tried to hide my ever-growing pout. "It's just weird." I could almost see my bottom lip as I whined. "We'd talk every day."
"Maybe he's getting to know his own VF," he said with a shrug. "Have you thought of that?"
I scrunched my pout up against my nose and nodded. Yes, I had thought of it. That wasn't the point. Truth was, I missed him.
And Roger could tell. With a laugh, he asked, "Would you like me to call him?"
"Yes!" I jumped up faster than I should have. The tip of my elbow bumped against the table and like a single domino on a ledge, the cup I'd set aside spilled. Juice splashed across the floor and the sides of my shoes, staining the white with various shades of orange.
With a groan of frustration, I wiped at my wet laces. "Just great."
"Don't worry, Clara. Sit back. I got it."
Within every Provincial apartment was a cleaning system built right into the floors and walls. It was more complex than the tiny robots who assisted daily living. Cleaning bots required a different set of commands, ones I never understood or could even work properly.
Though, Roger knew them all.
A tablet digitally appeared in his hands as he leaned back into his seat. With a few taps of his fingers, the juice on my floor was sucked into the cracks between the white tile. A small bot came through a 'doggy door' near the front end of my apartment and in less than a minute, my cup was washed and refilled, and the side of my shoe cleaned.
"I'm sorry," I muttered, rubbing the sides of my face with both hands. "I'm such a klutz."
"On the contrary, Clara, I wouldn't categorize you as any type of fool." Roger's words made me look up at his bright screen. I expected him to laugh, smile, or give me his never-ending grin when we locked eyes, but what I saw was far better.
My eyes nearly watered as Roger pointed at a small conversation bubble beside his head. The letter X, tiny yet vibrant, bobbed up and down above his finger. "Shall I patch him through?" he asked with a smirk.
Xerses waited on the line as an outgoing call. Crossing the room, I couldn't contain my smile. "You're the best," I told him.
"My pleasure," he said.
YOU ARE READING
ROGER [Wattpad Version]
Science Fiction[Book 1 in the CODES series] || Clara is stubborn and installs Roger, an AI program, inside her head in the most unconventional way, but because she's severed Roger's ties to his data, Clara is the only free citizen within a city that wants her mind...