Trap
The chat flowed over the display like a waterfall. I was surrounded by an entire crowd of people I didn't know, all of them laughing at me. They cared nothing for what I had to say ? just kept spouting comment after comment.
-In a perfect world, there is almost no drama left!
-Yeah, where's the thrill? The EXCITEMENT!?
-Young people these days. They know nothing of adventure.
-That's why we decided to create our own!
-Something just for us to enjoy.
-This was just the beginning of our fun! Haha!
-I hear that people used to keep animals as pets a long time ago. We thought we'd try it out with a person, instead!
-Yeah, but just tossing them in a cage is no fun!
-We didn't want the government taking notice and ruining things, either…
-So we decided to toss out some bait, then sit back and see what we could catch.
-My hobby is the observation of mankind! Sounds sophisticated, doesn't it!?
-Stop that! You sound like a philosopher…
-This will definitely benefit human society. No doubt about that.
-I bet you still think you created the A.I. you call Alice, don't you?
-All you did was take elements from various sites and use them as components to form something bigger.
-I bet you felt like such a genius!
-Every single piece of the puzzle was prepared by us! US!
-What do you have to say to that? Pretty impressive, don't you think? DON'T YOU THINK!?
-Everything was so meticulously placed so that you would find it.
-All those top-quality programs.
-Of course you were able to combine them to create such an advanced A.I.! Who wouldn't!?
-Anyone with data processing abilities like that would be able to make a name for themselves on the net!
-Eventually, that person would think themselves to be master of the nets!
-You were so sure of yourself, weren't you? Don't even try to deny it!
-We just sat back and enjoyed the show.
-You wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at the individual pieces, but each part contained a bit of code that was activated when you combined them all together!
-Everything you did was reported straight back to us! Of course, the A.I. would never notice what was going on. It was coded so that it couldn't!
I could almost hear the laughter coming from the display. It appeared that I fell into their trap much earlier than I had originally guessed. They had enjoyed my entire rise to fame, my activities at the top, and my final downfall.
-What happened to Alice? I typed. A response immediately appeared.
-Why don't you figure that out for yourself? You still have that much freedom.
I could picture the countless grins that comment generated on the other side of the display. They were just trying to get me riled up so I would do something foolish again. I wasn't falling for that again. I still had enough sense left in me to see that. I was going to be my own puppetmaster from then on out.
When I accessed the storage space for Alice's program, every last log file was gone. It was as if there was never anything there to begin with. Her basic framework still remained, but her substance, what we humans would call "experience," was missing. I could activate her, but she would not have been the Alice I had known.
-What do you people want? I typed.
-What do we want? We've already gotten what we wanted!
-We sure did! We already laughed our asses off!
-Yeah, give me back my ass! Haha!
-Haha! Looks like that's what he wants!
-Me too!
-All we wanted was a show. One we could watch in real time.
-We have no intention of harming you.
-That would be lame.
-Sitting back and watching you get all flustered was also part of the show.
-But it looks the final act has come to an end! Take a bow!
-See? Even your heart rate is beginning to drop back to normal levels.
-Keep a cool head and avoid a cold war! Hah!
-Observing someone who is always calm is no fun at all.
-Time for us to go prepare for the next performance. Go ahead and do whatever you like from now on.
-You can keep the A.I. as payment for your performance!
-Use it well and you might just regain your status as a big player in the investment world!
-If you're willing to trust the A.I. again, that is...
I stared at the display for some time, but nobody said anything more. Without even realizing it, I had been thrust onto the stage, and now the curtain had come down on my performance.
I had exhausted nearly all of my funds, but at least I was still alive. However, if these people were to reveal my failure, I would lose all credibility as an investor. Nobody listens to a screw up. It was time to rebuild my reputation from the ground up.
From their point of view, though, even that was never mine to begin with. Everything had been set up and controlled by them.
Oddly, though, I didn't feel as if I had been fooled at all. I had no desire for revenge, either. I enjoyed my time in that other world. At least that was what I felt. Sure, those first ten minutes after the power failure, I felt as if I'd been blinded, but that didn't last long. As long as I myself wasn't damaged, I could always try again, right?
My only option at that point was to start doing what I could. Even if my apartment was only made for a single person, it was still designed as an advanced network space. It wasn't free. If I didn't start earning some cash, I wouldn't be able to buy anymore ketchup.
I reached over and activated Alice's program.
She was no longer wearing the outfit I liked, but instead was in a white one piece dress. She'd been reset to her default settings.
"Nice to meet you, Master," she said. "Shall I initiate program C2?"
She'd said the exact same thing, in that exact tone of voice, all those months ago when I first activated her. I hadn't even noticed that her voice had changed. Or was I imagining it…?
Suddenly, a strong sense of loss hit me like a storm. All I could think about was Alice's missing "Yes, Master." I couldn't find the off switch to the emotions that had begun swirling around me so fast that I wasn't able to make sense of them. It was like a hole had been opened up in the bottom of a barrel and they were spiraling out. I suppose the hole had been there all along, though. I thought I might feel the same as I do now if it had been an actual family member who had lost their memories instead.
"Yes," I finally answered. "Execute program C2."
I made sure to enunciate my command in a clear voice. The A.I. was not yet used to my speech patterns. If I were to use ambiguous language, it would not understand my meaning.
"Yes, Master," came her usual response, but in a voice that was not quite right. "Shall I initialize the data in storage beforehand?"
"What?" I asked, taken aback. "There is data left in storage?"
"Affirmative. You have received one message."
"When?"
"Ten seconds prior to program initialization. However, the originating address is not in my memory. I am unable to confirm the sender."
Had someone known I would reactive Alice and sent me a message in advance, or was it just a coincidence? Maybe this was another trap set up by that group to begin round two.
"Can you access the message before executing program C2?"
"Affirmative. Shall I display it in the message window?"
"Yes, do that."
Alice brought up the message on the display.