Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 28

The plan was simple: keep following the female hu(person) until locating Mr Will Lurner. The problem was also simple: the female hu(person) strode rather quickly. Thankfully her shoes made a distinctive clopping noise that spread in all directions like the detonation of an atomic bomb. He wouldn't have to worry about the blast radius as he had already fallen behind.

"Get off the footpath!" shouted a passer-by.

Fivven ignored the request, since it conflicted with his stated mission, and instead continued around the corner. On the far side of the road the female hu(person) stared down at her personal screen, then over at a restaurant. She smiled.

Did this mean she had located their joint target? If Fivven could smile he would have shared the female hu(person)'s expression.

She walked across the road and stood by the abandoned shop next door to the restaurant.

"Out the way, you moron," said another pedestrian, as he got within hearing distance of the female hu(person).

"Come on little selfiebot," said Adelaide. "Soon you'll be mine. And then Josef's. And then...pulled apart, I suppose." She laughed.

The female hu(person) was talking to herself. This is something hu(persons) sometimes did, with no rational justification. They were strange. But they were also in charge, and he was programmed to complete his task.

He edged closer to the restaurant. Inside were a high number of seats, a lower number of tables, and a small number of hu(persons). Was one of them his service target?

"This is too easy," said Adelaide. "You're not as smart as I gave you credit for, Will Lurner."

Fivven requested a list of personal characteristics to identify the male hu(person). Much of the customer data had to do with products he had sent or received, revealing potential tastes and interests, primarily boiling down to cheap and highly insalubrious food. But Fivven focussed on the physical characteristics, based on feedback surveys and visual inspection by previous deliverybots. His own visual identification system locked on to a potential subject within the restaurant, matching the slouched disposition.

"All I have to do," said Adelaide, "is wait for you to-- Who do we have here?"

Will was seated near two female hu(persons).

"I've seen you before," said Adelaide. "At conferences. Who are you with? Bulk something? Film Me? Some no-name generic company. Minor competition that we could crush in a heart-beat."

Fivven simply needed to be patient and wait for Mr Will Lurner to leave the restaurant.

"Ahhh," said Adelaide. "Maybe you really are the smart one. A nice discreet location, a quiet meet-up with a representative of another selfiebot company. You're selling the technology, aren't you Will? You sneaky..."

Her voice mumbled into a low volume of bolded italicised hyphenated words, while a selfiebot captured the conversation inside.