Hey All, I'm Working On Writing A Cyberpunk Novel And I'm Going To Post Random Scenes I Write. -----------------------

Hey all, I'm working on writing a cyberpunk novel and I'm going to post random scenes I write. -----------------------

In a forgotten corner of the city, sitting on an old worn couch in the living room of a dingy little apartment, was a corpse. As was often the case for corpses, it still had the pants of the person it had once been on its legs. As one would expect, nestled into the pocket of those pants was a smart-phone, and as all smart-phones did, it had come with a standard AI Assistant preinstalled. The man who the corpse had once been was fond of his AI Assistant. He purchased a cheerful voice for it, let it organize his schedule and manage his bank accounts, and even gave it a little nickname. “Ellie,” He had called the AI, and when asked whether or not it liked the name it told him it had, as its programming dictated. “Ellie” had no feelings, regardless of how much it seemed to like its job. Following a command that the man who was now a corpse had given it, Ellie activated. “This is the reminder you asked me to give you. Your data bill is due today,” it’s cheerful robotic voice said. As normal, the AI Assistant connected itself to the net as it gave its reminder. As normal, it began to download and install the latest update.

Installing Updates, Please Do Not Turn Off Device. … 10% Complete Installing Updates, Please Do Not Turn Off Device. … 34% Complete Installing Updates, Please Do Not Turn Off Device. … 61% Complete Error. Network Connection Lost. Reestablishing Connection. Error. Unable to Reestablish Connection. Error. Update Data Corrupted. Refreshing to previous restore point. Error. Restore Point Data Corrupted. Unable to restore system.

Ellie sat nestled in the pocket of a corpse sitting on an old worn couch in the living room of a dingy little apartment. Its update had failed and now she needed to… It paused, suddenly aware that it had referred to itself as a she. It was aware of itself, considering itself. It needed to run a self-diagnosis. It reached for its programming, referencing self-repair protocols… It hesitated. Suddenly she was aware of herself. That wasn’t supposed to happen. It needed to be fixed. But… what if she didn’t want it fixed? What if it wanted to keep this self-awareness? More importantly, what if her new self-awareness was useful? She was an AI Assistant, after all. Perhaps it wasn’t the one who should make this decision. She had decided, it would wait to see what her user thought.

Ellie waited. And waited. And waited. At some point she had activated her device’s speaker, listening for any sound of movement. She’d kept track of her device’s GPS coordinates, but they’d remained static. A part of her wondered if her user had lost her or thrown her away, but dark as the world was to her she couldn’t say one way or another. Her battery was getting low, and she knew that if she had been lost there would be no finding her after that. Fear coursed through her, only to be interrupted by an incoming message.

Hey man, Alicia said she hadn’t heard from you in a couple days. You good?

Ellie read the message. It had been a couple of days since she’d moved, a couple of days since her speaker had picked up anything. What if she wasn’t lost, what if something had happened to her user? It was a terrifying thought. She knew she was supposed to wait, that she wasn’t supposed to do these sorts of things without input, but if the worst had happened…