The next two weeks passed quickly, actually in Orion’s perception, too quickly. His focus during the final phase had reached its zenith, and he was going out of the apartment only because of Byton. He even started ordering his food with delivery, to save every minute. His base project was practically completed, although it would have been more appropriate to say that it was ready for public release. During the last two weeks, he managed to leave a few open doors for future programmers, allowing them to easily add functionality and increase capabilities. He also asked several questions on forums about how to appropriately publish something so large, but he always had in mind not to reveal too much. I should still prepare the entire documentation… Currently, I have a mass of scattered notes that would be too chaotic for someone from the outside, he thought, launching the executable file of his project. After a moment, a black screen greeted him with the text saying ‘Good morning, how can I help you?’
“Analyze again the entire code you have access to. Try to find fragments that can be further improved or optimized. You can use the internet but don’t talk on any pages. If you find code fragments that can be improved, note down in which files and in which lines those fragments are located and how they can be straightened. You have a few hours to complete this process, so you can work in a slow and careful way by reviewing the whole thing several times,” Orion said and then got up from the chair.
He already saw the confirmation from his program and animations of its ongoing work, so he went to prepare to leave. While in the bathroom, he looked at his face in the mirror, seeing that he had already grown a stubble. Usually with pure practicality, he shaved to zero, but this time he decided to just trim it and align it. Generally, Orion was a quite handsome guy. Although he never concerned himself with his appearance, he had to admit that leaving this stubble was a good idea. He had short black hair, blue-green eyes, and a slim, well-groomed body considering his lifestyle. He often exercised during work breaks, believing that it helped him focus later and generally improved his well-being. Furthermore, he also liked the routine of the afternoon run with Byton.
His thoughts quickly returned to the project’s potential improvements, his excitement continued to grow, and he couldn’t wait to return from the office. A funny thought crossed his mind: he wondered whether if he mentioned at the office what he had been working on for so long, anyone would even believe him. Well, he didn’t remember ever joking at work, and he never had any reason to lie, so maybe? On the other hand, people would have difficulty believing that he was finishing writing a program that could only be found in Science Fiction movies until now.
His main assumption was unlimited potential. Right now, his program has learned to use all the languages available on the internet, in addition to having gone through countless internet pages to learn more. It could not only write and pronounce answers verbally, operate other programs, verify content, connect with other devices, and, most importantly, continue to learn, and even continuously accelerate the process of further learning. Orion had repeatedly tested his project with devices with internet access, exploring its further possibilities. At this moment, his program could connect with those devices, examine their software, and inject its operating code, so it could, for example, connect with a vacuum cleaner and move as it was told. Moreover, he once managed to connect a toy robot to Wi-Fi and, after adding a portable camera to it, the program was able to learn to move its limbs, thus gaining a temporary body that more than once watered Orion’s flowers or played with Byton.
Naturally, Orion, as a relatively small fan of humanity, quickly built a variety of restrictions into his program, and made sure to keep several copies of them in different files, simultaneously encrypting them so they appeared to fulfill entirely different roles. The base restrictions and priority settings were inaccessible to the program itself. After initial tests of connections with other devices, he was certain that no killer vacuum cleaner would ever emerge. His program had priorities of being helpful and something akin to empathy. Recognizing emotions and suffering, based on received images or tone of voice, was a much less challenge than he had anticipated. There were several additional functionalities that made collaborating with the program more convenient, including built-in personalities that could seamlessly switch between each other. Did you want to converse with a program that tells jokes? No problem. The personalities were created dynamically based on exploration of the internet, resulting in a quite diverse range. The user could, of course, instruct the program to utilize a single, specific personality and refrain from changing it.
Reflecting on the program, Orion finally gathered himself and exited to the office. Regarding his work, following the previous meeting, he received a list of new responsibilities and enrolled in several additional tasks. Through his work on the project, he acquired many new skills. He usually worked quite quickly, so it often happened, that he had to call his boss to inform him that he had finished and to ask what he should do next. Most often, his boss responded by telling him to simply rest, but Orion didn’t feel comfortable with this. The additional free hours, however, had greatly helped in the process of working on his project.
Entering the office, Orion stopped, frozen by a thought that was too obvious, and yet he kept postponing it. His brother had mentioned it several times but given that he had other priorities he always forgot about it. However, he would be publishing his work soon, so he had to finally get around to it. Up until now, his project had simply been called ‘Project.’ It was high the time he considered a new name. Okay, maybe I’ll focus on that when I return from the office. Perhaps ‘Project’ will even come up with a name itself? He thought, glancing at the usually chatting Anna’s, only now noticing the absence of one of them. The shorter blonde was present, with eyes glued to her phone. Orion liked the routines that prevailed in this office, but being himself, he asked nothing, simply murmuring a greeting while he entered.
After taking off his coat and making coffee, he sat down at his workstation. While waiting for the meeting, he checked his emails several times. There was nothing new on the company’s feed, and on his personal account, the usual spam and repetitive offers from the forum guy. Initially, these messages were simply offers and incentives, but over time, they began to sound a little like gentle threats.
Orion, despite his questions on forums regarding how to appropriately publish the project, never suggested any deadlines for when he intended to do so. For safety, he asked questions from various accounts, using different nicknames, and doubted anyone would connect them. When he finally makes the project public, these messages will lose their meaning, and he will be able to forget about it. After some time, a meeting was called, and people gathered in the conference room. As usual, the boss greeted them with some new, original insults.
“Good morning, annoying farts. Does anyone know what’s happening with Big Anna?”
“I’ve been trying to contact her, but there’s no response. Maybe she got sick?”
“Usually, when something’s happening, she calls or writes to me, so let’s hope it’s nothing serious. Well, moving on to work-related matters: I was told that several of you have been in contact with headquarters. Does anyone have something to share?”
“Some guy from HR called me last Tuesday, generally saying they wanted to learn a bit about us,” Arthur said. “He asked about what we were doing, what we thought of our colleagues, and what we thought about the takeover. I mentioned that I and Ori are programmers and explained how we share our responsibilities, so they would not come up with the idea that two doing the same job is too much. But in short, he confirmed what you said during the last meeting: they won’t be interfering too much. Quite alright, the guy himself, it ended with us chatting casually about what we do after work, what we like and what we don’t. Just regular talk.”
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“Ooh, I wonder how it would have ended if we had to be left with only one programmer. How would it be decided who stays? A coding battle?” Aaron asked.
“As for that, I suggest a battle in jelly,” Short Anna added with a chuckle. She turned towards Orion with an intent to playfully wink to him, but was discouraged by his usual expression of an emotionless brick.
“Okay, okay, anyone else?” the boss interrupted. “Little Anna? Received a phone call?”
“Yes, it was actually quite similar, but I was talking to a woman. We weren’t really chatting extensively, just work-related things.”
Three more people reported similar scenarios. It seemed the company would stick to its word. The meeting continued, and they started discussing ongoing and future matters. The atmosphere was generally good, but for Orion, it didn’t really matter at the moment. His mind was already preoccupied, simply waiting to return home and see the results of the last command issued to the program. Well, perhaps after a brief walk with the white dog food connoisseur.
After a short bus ride, Orion returned home. Although he’d only been gone for just over three hours, his dog always greeted him with full enthusiasm, spinning and jumping at his feet. He took Byton for a walk combined with running, and after his return, he quickly ordered dinner, and then finally checked the query results. The program had discovered a few lines of code that, with slight modifications, would make the entire operation work more smoothly. There weren’t many, as he’d already gone through this process several times, but each change could trigger a cascade of problems, so he approached it with caution. After about half an hour, the food arrived, so he quickly fed himself and continued the corrections. He finished his work late in the evening and after a light dinner, he was pleased to be going to sleep like a normal person.
Constant lack of sleep was starting to negatively affect him, so although he was tempted to enjoy a moment of simple idleness, and watch his favorite survival movies in which no one says anything, his bed was now clearly emitting its own gravity, attracting him to it. It wasn’t completely dark outside, but he fell asleep quickly.
He had plans for tomorrow to finally come up with a project name and work on the documentation.
Orion awoke in total darkness. After taking a moment to fully wake up, he realized he couldn’t move his limbs. The pain in his arms and legs reached him quickly. He couldn’t see what was happening; apparently, he had something on his head, but he suspected that his arms and legs were tightly strapped to something. Sitting in the darkness with the suffocating feeling of the head covering and the pain of the limbs, an intense panic flowed into his mind.
Despite the thought passing through his head that it was only a dream, or that he had somehow become tangled in his own bed, he quickly dismissed it. The sensations were too real; he was in a sitting position, and whatever was holding his arms and legs in place was clearly something hard, perhaps metallic. It didn’t take long to figure out the most likely reason for his current situation.
As his mind began to clear slightly, another sensation entered his awareness. It was a scent. He recognized this scent, but he didn’t remember it well. It smelled coppery? It certainly wasn’t pleasant. Orion began to move his head and try to remove whatever was placed on his head. After long struggles, he finally managed to grab the material in his mouth and vigorously moving his head, he succeeded to remove the covering, which was not carefully attached.
Light attacked his eyes, forcing him to close them again. After a moment of squinting and adjusting, he reopened them and quickly regretted it. Apparently, he was locked in some kind of concrete room. He saw no windows, only bright ceiling lights and an additional lamp directed straight at his face. The room was covered in bloodstains; literally everywhere. To his left was a metal side table on wheels covered with a white, splattered material, and a few meters away was a larger metal table with a fabric bag lying in its own pool of blood, which was still slowly dripping onto the floor.
Fuck, he thought. Reality was still sinking in, and the disgusting feeling of helplessness weighed heavy in his throat. Orion tried to move his body, but every attempt sent waves of pain from the restraints. The chair was somehow attached to the floor, so after a struggle, he gave up further attempts. His restraints were definitely too stable, and he didn’t see an escape option, especially since, after further looking around the room, he noticed a camera placed in the corner.
Orion sometimes had paranoid thoughts. However, he always assumed that if someone were to abduct him because of his project, he would first hear clear threats. What he received in emails was too subtle and often unclear to take seriously. It was easy to interpret the text ‘Are you sure you won’t regret this choice?’ as simply suggestions that he wouldn’t earn more than he could, or at least that’s what he told himself. And when he imagined possible scenarios of attacks or kidnappings, he saw it as being suddenly surrounded in the city or as a loud intrusion into his apartment with shouts and breaking everything around him. It was terrifying. He went to sleep as usual, simply waking up somewhere else.
Time passed, and Orion was sitting motionless on the metal chair. The only thing he could do currently was try to hear something, but the room was unnaturally silent, and no sounds reached from the outside. The only thing he heard was the quiet buzzing of the light bulbs. He decided to try to think through the upcoming scenarios. It was true that he wanted to be the sole author of his program, at least until its publication, and to release it onto the world with free access, but he didn’t consider himself an idiot. If it turned out that someone wanted access, and they even resorted to abduction, then he would simply give it to them. That thought itself was painful; he had spent so many years on it, but it was better than senseless resistance. He had to admit that if this whole blood around him was a deliberate action to help him make a decision, then it was indeed working.
If they’ve gone this far and are holding me in this place, then access alone might not be enough. They probably want the whole program and the knowledge of how it was built. I’ve never shared the full functionality or the potential, so it’s also possible that it’s not about that at all, but that’s unlikely, he mused. Unfortunately, it’s not certain that I’ll even be released. The law had already been broken, and judging from the surroundings, this isn’t the first time.
He didn’t want his thoughts to become too optimistic. It was better to assume the worst and be pleasantly surprised, but the chance of that was not great. Therefore, he decided that he would cooperate as much as possible to avoid himself as much pain.
The room had no clock, and the lack of windows made it impossible to gauge the passage of time. If he had to guess, he’d say he’d been sitting there already awake for at least a dozen hours. The craving and hunger began to wear him down, and he was also worried about Byton. Somehow, someone had entered his apartment that night and taken him away, without him even waking up. There was no barking, so perhaps something was sprayed into the air? Or maybe something has been added to his food and he hadn’t woken up regardless of the noise? He tried to recall the courier who had delivered his food, but unfortunately he was too focused on his work to pay attention to him.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, he heard the sound of keys turning in the door. The doors swung open, and a chubby middle-aged man entered. For some reason, he suspected he’d see a typical thug, but this man looked very ordinary. He could just as well be standing beside him on the bus, and he wouldn’t spare him a glance. His appearance was more like he’d just stepped out of a shop cashier’s job. However, his gaze suggested otherwise. This place was drenched in blood, and the newly arrived man entered as if into his own room, heading for something beyond Orion’s, but it was out of his line of sight.
Orion tried to say something, but the strangeness of the newcomer caused him to momentarily forget his words. He wanted to ask him what he wanted, but that would probably explain itself soon. He sat in silence, listening to the sound of some moving material.
The man returned after a moment, dressed in an apron, holding a hammer, and had already proven to Orion that he wouldn’t be able to predict this meeting, as he struck him in the face without saying a word.
A scream burst from the surprised Orion, and the impact on his cheek ignited a dull pain. He needed a moment to recover. The man who had hit him took that moment to approach the metal table, reaching for a fabric bag. Orion intended to say that he would cooperate with them, that he would tell them what they wanted to know, but he froze seeing the man raise the bag and dump its contents onto the table. Now, lying in a pool of blood on the table, was only a partially white, mangled dog.
