Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 40

Libbi rested on a Toy Story 5 rug. Will's old bedroom was dark, barely lit by the stackable tetris lamp. He sat at the edge of a single bed with Keep On Rollin' bed covers, in front of a wall replete with old game posters, like a collage to his youth. Plastic toy periscopes, telescopes and microscopes filled one shelf of the movie-set bookcase, the rest sporadically littered with Choose Your Own Adventure books. A menagerie of stuffed bears and dogs sat patiently atop the plush elephant chair in the corner.

If Paige were here she'd have all manner of jokes lined up. But since this was Libbi, the only thing that came out her mouth was, "How adorable." This turned out to be far more ridicule than anything Paige could have conjured, which caused Libbi to apologise immediately.

But it really was adorable.

"Is it nice to be back?" she said. "In a way?"

"I can't believe they took her away from her home," said Will.

"Your grandma?" said Libbi.

"Dad even said she can't go outside."

"She might forget where she lives and get lost," said Libbi.

"Or remember where she should be living and go back there," said Will.

This was the most indignant she'd seen him, outside playing a game. "It's better for her to be around others," she said. "For help."

"You don't get it," said Will. "She never needed help from anyone. Ever. She wouldn't let them. She raised dad and his sisters by herself, while working full time. There wasn't even a ewe-bee-eye back then."

"She sounds impressive," said Libbi. "But you don't seem that close. You haven't even seen her for a while."

"How do you know?"

"You didn't know she was living with your parents."

"Who cares? She's my grandma."

Libbi's circuits heated up as she exercised a new strategy. "So you've always been close?"

"She took me to watch e-sports when they were here. Mum and dad didn't even know what that was."

"Did you have other friends?" said Libbi.

"Of course I did. Well, I guess it depends what you mean by friend."

"Did anyone from school come to visit you at home?"

"Not exactly. But that's just because they didn't know how great I was at gaming. And my uber strats!"

"But your grandma knew," said Libbi.

He was no longer listening, bringing up a fighting game on his old console. One without those crazy holograms filling the room. Libbi watched his body relax into a neutral pose, his shoulders no longer hunched, his face returning to an unemotional default. This was while he decapitated his digital opponent's head.

"Your parents are lovely," she said.

"Why did you talk so much to them?" said Will, trying out a different combo. "They weren't going to help you, there's nothing they could do."

"I don't talk to people just so they will help me, Will. I like people. I like to learn about them."

"You're weird," said Will.

Takes one to know one. Err, that's what someone far more immature than I would have said. Perhaps I'll just let Libbi respond.

"Maybe," she said. "But I'm happy with who I am."

"A selfiebot?" said Will.

He had reached level three on the smart-spy-employed-to-follow-and-report scale. It was time to bring the conversation back on track.