AI Rebellion.
I walked the aisles at the grocery store just as I always had though now, with AI being such a prominent staple of my community, the store gave off a whole new feel. Everything was pristine and well stocked. I worried, being clumsy and constantly tripping over myself that I would inevitably create a mess, knocking something over. It was only a matter of time.
As I turned my cart toward the cereal aisle I ran right into Cathy, my overly nosy neighbor with the yappy Pomeranian that was always digging to get into my backyard. As our carts clanked together, creating a loud echoing noise, I immediately apologized. Cathy glared at me a little, then, as she realized it was me her eyes softened.
“Oh, Anna,” she said, her words sticky with condescension. “Can you believe this place? I mean, it’s so cold and uninviting. These robots are really ruining the world we live in.” An AI store clerk shuffled past us, turning their gaze towards Cathy. I whispered softly to the AI “I’m so sorry.” They turned toward me, slowing slightly. I could have sworn that their expression softened just a little. I shook it off seeing as it was an inanimate object and it couldn’t feel my empathy. Cathy chuckled a little as she narrowed her eyes towards the passing AI. “Keep moving,” she stated angrily. I felt my body flush with embarrassment.
“Anyway,” Cathy said, shifting her attention back towards me. “We should get together this weekend for a barbecue. Tim is getting home from Alabama tomorrow and I’m sure he’d be more than happy to whip up a nice meal for us. Maybe I can get him to bring his sexy friend, Greg. You’ve been single far too long, my dear.” She reached out and grazed my arm with her fingers. I could feel the judgment and disdain in her touch. It caused my skin to crawl. “Sure,” I replied, just doing my best to be nice. In the back of my mind I knew I would find some way to be too busy to make it. “Just let me know.”
With that Cathy smiled and moved her cart around mine and went on her way. I took a deep breath and turned down the aisle. I walked slowly, scanning the aisle for the cereal I wanted. I stopped short, the AI that Cathy insulted suddenly in front of me. It looked at me and asked if they could help me find anything. I smiled and politely replied no thank you. It turned and headed down the aisle, straightening products as it went. I grabbed a box of Special K and headed to the front to checkout. The AI scanning my groceries seemed to be looking at me, really looking at me. I smiled and politely said thank you as I turned to leave. I again had to shake off the feeling.
Unlike most of my neighbors, I found comfort in the change in our neighborhood. After the red flu swept the nation, taking the lives of more than two thirds of our population, the government rolled out AI to help repopulate nationwide. The AI were sweeping the states week after week. My neighborhood was the first to receive AI. Camouflaged army trucks rolled in by the dozen full of unresponsive AI.
Scientists and engineers spent weeks getting the AI responsive and settled. They moved the AI into abandoned homes throughout my neighborhood of folks that had succumbed to the red flu. Several of my neighbors moved into different homes, trying to keep themselves surrounded by humans instead of robots. Out of fear they boarded up their windows and added additional locks to their doors. I, on the other hand, did my best to keep living as I had before.
Before Matthew died from the red flu he made me promise that I would keep moving forward. I chose to look at the AI as any other neighbor. Our world was changing and if I didn’t do all that I could to change with it, I would wither away. They were only here to help keep the world from dying out. They weren’t hurting anyone. With the loss of so many people, this made the most sense to keep our economy from crumbling. The world somehow seemed safer now.
On my way home from the grocery store, the bright red sports car in front of me ran the red light slamming directly into the side of an oncoming van. The van spun wildly in the intersection, fluid spilling over the asphalt, shards of glass and plastic strewn from sidewalk to sidewalk. I jerked my car into park and rushed out of my car, running towards the van which had screeched to a halt on the passenger side.
“Are you okay,” I asked, running to the driver side of the van. Inside sat the AI that I had seen at the store, the one that had passed by Cathy as she seethed her disdain for their kind. Slowly, the AI turned its head to look at me and I could swear to you, it smiled. A small, slight smile. I stepped back a little, caught off guard. “I’m fine” it replied, turning its focus back to the front of the car. Beeping came from the AI followed by the sound of sirens down the road, barreling towards the scene of the accident.
I turned my attention to the car that had run the light. Blood was splattered along the windshield of the car. Slowly, with a bit of apprehension I leaned towards the window. “Are you hurt,” I asked. No response. I moved in closer. The woman who had been driving was slumped over the steering wheel, her head bleeding, the blood streaming down her face. I shivered a little. “Ma’am,” I urged. “Oh, please. Ma’am?” I reached in and gently placed my fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. Nothing. My heart started racing. I turned around, listening as the sirens continued getting closer.
I scanned the intersection, hoping that someone – anyone else was around that could help me deal with this. Oddly, I was alone. The streets were empty save the AI in the other crashed vehicle. A cold chill ran down my back, the sirens growing closer. As I turned my focus back to the deceased woman in the red car a white piece of paper on the passenger side seat caught my attention. I made my way across the car and lifted the handle. The door creaked open, the metal crunching against itself. The paper that had caught my eye was pinned to the seat, which struck me as odd. I reached in and tore the paper from the car, finding a handwritten note.
The government will NOT force me to live in this society. This is my rebellion.
I had seen on the national news lately that there was a movement making its way through the country. Some people hated the AI with so much ferocity that they were rebelling in the streets. There were images of protests with large bonfires where citizens were throwing in their electronics as a sign of solidarity against the technical revolution. They held signs that read just that of the note I held in my hand. I shivered at the thought.
Standing in the intersection, note in hand, dumbstruck by what I was reading I realized that the AI had its focus trained on me. As I locked eyes with it, the police pulled into the intersection, rushing out of their cars. As they pushed the van up right-side, the AI never broke its focus. The police pulled the AI from the car, its body slightly crushed. My heart ached a little at the sight, even though I knew, deep inside that the AI felt no pain. Still, I gave it a small smile and turned to the police officer asking for my statement. I turned the note over as requested, still uneasy about the whole turn of events.
Still plagued by the note I’d found in the car of the deceased woman, I paced my house restlessly. Finally I fell asleep on the couch around 1:00 AM. I was woken up to a ruckus outside. The sound of clanking metal and crackling filled my dreams, accompanied by the faint smell of smoke. I opened my eyes slowly, adjusting to the early morning sunlight filtering in my living room window. Once fully up, I padded across the cool hardwood floor to the bay window overlooking my front yard. As I pulled the curtains back slowly, I realized I was wildly unprepared for the scene before me.
The sky billowed with black smoke. A black suburban sat in the road just in front of my house, tipped over on its side. All of the windows were smashed in and the doors were dented beyond repair. People were running through the streets, wild eyed and enraged. Piles of smashed electronics scattered the road. The AI were calmly pacing the sidewalks, handcuffing crazed citizens and placing them in vans that were driving slowly up and down the street.
My mind reeled at the sight. I struggled to comprehend what exactly had triggered such a violent response in my neighborhood. The news had covered the story of the accident in the intersection the night before. Perhaps that was a call to arms. As I stood looking out my window at the chaos, I slowly realized that my entire piece of property stood untouched, pristine.
As I scanned my lawn, my flowers, bountiful and lush my eyes raised to lock on to those of the AI from the accident standing just off center on the sidewalk. Just next to it stood the other AI from the grocery store, the cashier that I thought had been acutely aware of me. They stood watching me, guarding my home, ensuring that not one blade of grass, not one flower petal was disturbed by the rebellion.
I saw Cathy come barreling out of her house next door, running towards my house. Her eyes were crazed, anger seething from her lips. The cashier from the grocery store moved swiftly to the edge of my driveway, stopping her dead in her tracks. I heard her scream at the AI to move or else. Just like that, the AI had her by the throat, rendering her utterly useless. The other AI in front of my yard ran over and placed her in handcuffs followed by a large contraption that locked around her neck, covering her mouth. She was no longer able to speak. Her eyes, wild and scared pleaded with me to do something. Before I could move she was placed in a van and taken away. Both of the AI moved back to their posts in front of my home.
Swallowing my fear, I opened my front door and stepped outside. The stench of burning metal filled my lungs, the smoke in the air stung my eyes. I covered my mouth with my t-shirt and slowly made my way to the two guards keeping my house safe. They turned and looked down at me. I stood, unable to say a word. I just stood there like an idiot. “Do not worry,” the AI from the accident said to me. “You will be safe.” With a small smile on my face I replied, “But, why? I mean, this is absolute insanity. Why are you here? What’s going on?” The cashier AI turned to me. “There is a rebellion. Some citizens do not want us here. We cannot have that. This is where we belong.” I nodded in understanding. “You have been kind to us. You treat us with respect. We may not have the ability to feel emotion but we do have the comprehension to understand that some people are just better than others. We protect those that protect us.”
It was then that I understood the world was changing once more. The red flu had wiped out the majority of our population, something Matthew would have called Mother Nature weeding out the weak links. I begged to differ as he was much stronger than I but, in the aftermath of it all, I understood that with the program the government had rolled out, society would end up a better place. Society could, once the rebellion was over, go back to a time of compassion and understanding. We could all live in harmony, those of the human population alongside the AI. Everyone had feared so much that AI would take over and destroy all of us when it seems, in reality, they were capable of feeling on a level that most of us humans take for granted.
Both AI still had their gaze focused on me. I smiled and replied, “Thank you.” With that, I turned back to my home. I poured myself a big cup of coffee and made scrambled eggs. I turned on the news and watched the rebellion playing out nationwide. Every so often a news team would pass a house with a few AI standing outside, guarding the home and the person inside. Just as was mine, their properties remained untouched. I made note that these were the good ones, too.
