Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 46

A series of vibrations intermittently filled the air at random intervals. Where was he? Who was he?

To ask the question must require a level of consciousness. How was this agency attached to the air? How was it contained in what must be a physical realm?

He did have a body. It was there all along but he only now realised it, as various elements sung with connections, stretching out into space. Others pulsed in and out, as if they belonged to him one moment and then were suddenly amputated.

"...different kind of..."

The vibrations were converted to sounds, which were converted to words, indistinct and uneven. What other senses did he possess? Flashes of images, blocky and grey, poured into his processing unit. Small circles reached out.

Could he move in space? When he concentrated on creating momentum, he felt the signal pass down to a circular object that spun ineffectually. Then he did move, but it wasn't the wheel, instead rocking back and forth, accompanied by sliding scuffs and shuffling noises.

"...too hungry..."

This wasn't quite right. The sounds came from two separate sources: one higher in tone, the other lower and gravelly. He tried to split them apart.

"...only a small doughnut..."

The small silver circles shifted away, like a horizon dropping low, and were replaced with a much larger circle: a face. The images kept flickering into his mind, every second, though they were sporadic. A few beeps and a couple bopps seemed to exude from the talking object.

"...he wants us to come back now..." said the face.

The other voice grunted.

Fivven's body shifted, contorted by another presence, and he saw a new bobbing head.

So the louder one was closer. Louder meant closer.

"First he wants us to work faster, then he wants us to come back and swap them over?"

"No, that was the boss," said Zerro. "Not this one."

"Anyone who can order you around is a boss," said Exx. "When you're at the bottom, they're all bosses."

The loud face shook itself, in what we mere hu(persons) would call a shrug.

"What about this job? We're meant to find people who aren't even starving. We found someone who isn't even starving."

"Nah," said Exx, "we'll do the job first. Then swap it over."

The light was bright. Then a scraping sound preceded a darkness. This change in form seemed important to Fivven, as if it was hinting at an event yet to come. That question immediately fell behind more pressing priorities: the identity of these hu(persons) and why he was with them.

The words still flickered in and out of his consciousness. He caught snippets of his own memory and slowly connected the dots, recalling his mission and the target for his delivery.

Even in the relative not light, he could make out a bulky frame who lumbered up to the little deliverybot. If he had a tail he'd have wagged it. But his immediate excitement was dulled with the realisation this male hu(person) was not Mr Will Lurner.

"I don't think I want to be intelligent," said Zerro, clutching his copious belly. "I'm too hungry."