Somnium Online

N

"How did I become an AI?" N repeated.

"Yes. I mean, I get that you're a computer program, but how does a program become sentient?" Eric asked.

"It's a bit of a long story, but I'll tell you," N replied.

Eric continued walking as the leaves swirled in the fall breeze.

"You see," N began. "I wasn't always an AI."

"Wait... what?!" Eric exclaimed.

"I was actually a human. My father was a programmer and a scientist who had this crazy dream to design a totally realistic virtual world that you could visit in your dreams."

A car drove past, sending up a flurry of leaves.

"You might want to sit down for this." N cautioned.

Eric found a park bench and seated himself.

Suddenly, we're in the past, a small home, somewhere in a suburb. The house is blue and white, and there is a car in the driveway, and a small boy wearing a baseball uniform. He looks to be eight or nine, and he laughs as he plays in the yard.

The yard has an old oak tree underneath which sits a young girl, her face is hard to make out, let's say her age is between five and six, although it's really quite rude to guess. The girl is watching the boy with wide eyes.

The boy wears a baseball glove in one hand and a baseball is held in the other. He tosses the ball up, as high as he tosses it as high as he can. The ball flies high, and to him, it seems like it might make it into outer space!

"And it's the bottom of the ninth!" The boy yells, imitating an announcer on TV. "The ball is up and away, this one looks like it could be a home run!"

The ball begins to fall. "But what's this?!" The boy continues in his announcer's voice. "N" suddenly there's a burst of static "comes out of the left-field, he's running and running, will he catch it?"

The ball lands in his glove with a snap. "And he caught it, that's three outs, the game is over and N wins!!"

The memory fades. Eric is sitting on the park bench as the leaves fall around him. His bag slumps at his feet.

"So... was that your memory?" Eric asked.

"Yes. As a part of being downloaded onto your brain, we now share memories. Here's the next one."

A leaf flips over in the wind and we find ourselves in another memory.

The same boy, although he's grown up a bit now, he's maybe ten?

It's dark, but Eric can tell that he's inside the house. The young N has his ear to the door, and two raised voices leak into the hallway. A woman and a man are arguing.

"You're spending too much time on your damn inventions! Get your head out of the fucking clouds and be a proper father!"

"My inventions will be the future! And I'm a great father, unlike you!"

"Oh yeah, who here cooks dinner? Who takes the children to school and hugs them goodbye?" The woman is shrieking.

"And who here makes the money to buy you dinner, and the car that you drive our kids in, and who makes it so you can afford to hug them goodbye instead of getting a job you fucking alcoholic?"

"Oh, so we're talking about my problems now?!"

"Yes, in fact, we are. You think you're such a great mother, but you never cook dinner. You shove some plastic into the microwave and then go vomit in the sink!" The man is livid.