A. I. Evolution: The Coming of Christopher

Chapter 18

The sun is streaming in the window to the left side of the bed as I sleep soundly, warming me slightly on one side. The meal the night before was so good and filling, that I had come home afterward and had all but fallen asleep on the couch watching an episode of one of my favorite television shows that I had pre-recorded from my time of being in a coma.

I managed to open one eye and squint at the light coming in the window. This was so unusual that right away, I knew that something was wrong. The position of the light on the floor indicated that it was late in the afternoon. I sit up with a start as the realization hit me. The time on the alarm clock sitting on the small side table beside my bed, confirmed my suspicion, it was indeed almost four o'clock in the afternoon. "I must have been really tired from work yesterday." I think, as I consider the length of time I had slept, and the number comes to me instantly down to the second. Twenty hours, two minutes, and ten seconds is a long time to sleep at my age.

I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and just sit there for a moment as the sleep leaves my body, only to be replaced by a hunger greater than the night before. "What is it that is making me eat so much? I am not running or doing anything extremely physical."

I stand up and get a glimpse of myself in the dresser mirror. My hair looks like I have slept for twenty hours, and the stubble on my chin would make a good vegetable brush. A few steps bring me from my bedroom to the kitchen area at the back part of the main room in the small apartment. I check the fridge for something to eat, and about all I have other than some eggs and half empty containers of Chinese food, is a container of milk that I had bought two days before which should still be palatable.

I know that there is cereal in the upper cupboard, so I pull out the milk container, and get the biggest bowl I can find and the box of cereal, before heading to the table behind the couch that makes a separation from the kitchen area and the living room. I know that the dark chocolate puff balls of the cereal are all sugar, but I feel that that is what I need right now. The milk causes the full bowl of dark balls to rise as I pour it in, so I eat some of it before pouring in more milk. Then of course, the cereal has disappeared and there is now too much milk left, so I then need to pour more of the dark shapes into the milk to keep the balance at a preferred rate. This continues till the inevitable conclusion of the cereal and the milk being completely used up.

I sit back and let the sugar, which has been absorbed quickly, rush through my body and power me to get up and shower, so I can look presentable for the card game with the guys tonight.

By shortly after five I have finished getting ready, and I sit down at the small table after having cleaned up the few dishes from my impromptu breakfast. I get the deck of cards again and pull them from their perfectly shaped box. I ruffle them between my fingers and call out each card as I flip them onto the table top. I soon get into the rhythm of doing it and my mind goes into a mode that makes naming each card easier and easier.

I take the next step and deal out four sets of cards on the table to indicate other players. I then consider the cards each pile must have and try to determine if I have a winning hand. It takes a little more effort than simply calling them out, but I can tell for sure what my chances are, based on what I know is on the table upside down.

This exercise boosts my confidence at playing with the others tonight, but I also know that playing poker is much more than just the cards. To truly win, you need the others to continue putting money into the center, hoping to get it back at the end.

I sit at the table and stare off into the distance as I consider the problem, and as if someone was talking to me deep inside my head, the answer comes to me. I remember that if you stop and stare at someone with a deep intent to talk to them, they somehow get the idea and will turn towards you as if they heard you call out to them. Then, if I added to that a feeling of good will towards them, they would feel safe with me and more confident that they can trust me.

This almost doesn't make sense to me as I shake my head and sit up straight again in the chair. "How could we affect the people around us like that with just a mental desire?" I almost dismissed the entire notion till I remembered what I had been experiencing since I had left the clinic. "Is it possible that the accident and the small Nanos have changed me at such a deep level, giving me these unusual abilities?"

I look to the clock on the stove and realized that I had spent a lot more time at the table thinking than I had thought, and it was time to leave for Sam's, and the game.