Unfettered Bones Part 6: Ghost in the Machine
Flesh and bone were gone, smooth screens and plastic faces remained.
Saturday morning was very smoggy in the city. Downtown was quiet after Friday night’s debacle.
The alcoholics were left in gutters and sleeping on bars being woken up by the owners. Addicts of all kinds were given food and water coming out of a high. Mob bosses kicked out their mistresses and gave the boot to hookers. Women left for dead in the streets were saved by elderly ladies who brought them into their own homes. Dancers in the night waking up with a sense of dread gazed out into the horizon looking for true love. The young sold into slavery desired the taste of freedom.
And Marv woke up confused about what happened. Zen was nowhere to be found. It was supposed to be date night last night but he couldn’t find her. She was gone.
What happened to her?
He got up as Bexty made the coffee. It was pouring by his bedside filling his nose with bleakness. An unwanted dread. Was there no hope of seeing her?
He tasted the coffee so bitter like his heart, dark like his mind. Foggy dew came and washed anew upon San Tokyo. He figured the awful feeling was justified after sleeping with Chiyo. It served him right but he never wanted to admit it.
And as he sat there alone in his room, he had a message pop up in his Eye Sphere. He chose it with his mind as it was from the Child & Parent Program. It gave him the information, his bill that was outrageous, and where he was to go.
He tried calling Zen. No answer. Went to voicemail.
Then he asked Bexty, “Did you see Zenette today or yesterday?”
“Master, I was to say nothing about Zen.”
“What? Who told you to do that?”
“Well, Lady Zen herself.”
“Why,” he asked confused.
“I don’t know, Master. I never did understand humans and their ways. Mysterious to a machine like me.”
His heart was aching with grief. Was she leaving him? Was she backing out of parenthood? But he needed her. The child needed her, he couldn’t raise the child alone even if they did have a fight. They still loved each other.
“Master, I see your heart rate rising. Do you need to talk about this matter? I am programmed to deal with such situations.”
“Get away from me.”
“Of course, Master.”
“Unplug yourself,” he said quickly.
“Master?”
“Power off, goddammit!”
Immediately, she transformed into a small bot the size of the outlet and plugged itself.
He fell onto the floor. Suddenly, the TV turned on and a movie about two men raising a child was on. It was a comedy-drama about the life of this couple and their child.
Then it switched to a horror slasher movie where a child was the murderer. The little girl was killing her grandmother violently. It disturbed him as he left the room and went to the bathroom splashing his face.
Abruptly, he got a message from Scy.
“Downstairs. I’m coming up.”
“It’s too early for this.”
But Scy didn’t respond. The doorbell rang all of a sudden.
He went to the door still in sweatpants. Scy hurried through the door glancing at Marv slyly.
“Aren’t you excited to see me,” he asked quickly getting some coffee from Marv’s bedroom.
“Help yourself,” he said passive-aggressively.
“Gladly.” Scy smiled amused sitting down in the living room.
“How was your week with the bitch? They were nice, weren’t they? I paid mine handsomely. Might wanna own her but she wasn’t too thrilled about that. It’s good she’s just a bot.” He chuckled under his breath.
“What’d you want?”
“You know what I want.”
“Bro, I’m not joining. I got no coin.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
“Get out.”
“I have a contract for you,” he said sending it to Marv’s Sphere. “Get it?”
“I’m not doing this.”
“Well, if you don’t, I think Flinch will be disappointed.”
“You son of a… You did that?”
“I did what was necessary to save our friendship.”
“How’d you even manage…”
“Laix owns Flinch, they’re the same company, Marv. What did you think? I did this for both of us.”
“You did it for yourself and this isn’t a friendship. It’s blackmail.”
“It’s the only semblance of what’s left of our poor little society. This is business, Marv.”
“Then why don’t we just call it that?”
“Who cares what we call it?”
“You wanna be a poet and a backstabber! You can’t have it both ways, Scy! You can’t! The whole damn world wants it but they can’t have it,” he screamed his eyes hissing like a tea kettle.
“Are you finished?”
“Hardly, you filthy scum,” he said through his yellow teeth.
“Ooh, scary. You think I’m afraid of you? You do this and you’ll never work again for Laix. You’ll never be associated with them ever again. Your name will be forgotten. And better yet, you’ll never work again in this town. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Always getting what you want. What happened to you Scy?”
“Business happened to me.”
“Leave.”
“I’m not leaving until you pay up.” His body shimmered for a second.
“Wha- who do you think you are?”
“Pay up. Now,” he said sternly.
“Did you have something to do with Zen’s disappearance?”
“Nothing is as important as right now, Marv. Make the right choice,” he said sternly.
Scy was terrifying with his bulky shoulders and balding head. His dark trench coat dripping from the wet day.
Marv couldn’t believe his friend was blackmailing him. Either he agreed or he would never find a job like he had ever again. He would go back to cleaning tables and serving people, back into a low-paying job working in the subway sweeping floors and selling tickets.
“Why are you doing this?”
“For my sake. Does that satisfy you?” The truth was refreshing.
“Sure. Whatever you say.” He paid him fifty Yen.
“See. Not that hard,” Scy said smiling again satisfied.
“And now we can go back to being friends, you and I. And… you still have a job.” He put out his hand for a shake. “Pleasure doing business with you friend.”
Marv stared down at it disgusted but took it all the same. “Scy, I don’t know anything about running a business.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll just attract the clients. Be my pretty little face.” He slapped his face lightly. He downed the coffee and turned to leave. “We’ll talk some more in the coming days.”
“Where’s Zen?”
“I never said I knew where she was. I don’t know, Marv. Maybe you should buy a collar for her. Keep track, you know,” he said winking as he shut the door.
Then his reminder of the Parent & Child Program shot up on his Eye. He had a half hour to get to the appointment. Quickly, he got ready and zoomed out the door.
But it would be pointless without Zen. He tried calling her again but she didn’t pick up.
Where is she?
Maybe she was already there but he doubted. It spooked him regardless not knowing where his best friend had gone to.
He arrived and got off the trolley and into a huge building where the Child & Parent Program was housed. He got to the front desk. The receptionist was behind a glass wall as she nonchalantly looked up.
“Can I help you,” she said annoyed in her gray suit.
“Yeah, uh, my wife, I mean my girlfriend was supposed to be here but I’m not sure where she is. Can I still register?”
“Name?”
“Uh, Marvin Franklin.”
“Strange name.” The receptionist checked her Eye as the work system uploaded onto her Sphere.
“I’m not seeing anything. What about your partner’s name?”
“Yeah, it’s Zen, Zennette Kura.” She looked it up.
Shaking her head she said, “I don’t see anyone by that name in our system.”
His heart dropped and he lost all comprehension.
“That doesn’t make any sense. We got an email that we were selected. My girlfriend got it, she sent it to me. I don’t understand. Did you try looking everywhere?”
“Sir, if you were in the system it would have come up. Where’s the email? You have it?”
“Yeah, I have it.”
“Send it to me.” He sent it in a flash and she looked it over. Nothing was making any sense.
“OK, who sent this to you, you said?”
“My girlfriend.”
“Your girlfriend’s name is Zenette?”
“Yes,” he said annoyed.
“OK, let me look her up in the governmental system.” She looked her up scrolling for a few minutes. Marv was getting restless as he tapped his foot nervously.
“OK, so I don’t see a Zenette Kura at all. There’s no person by that name. I have a Janette Houston, Janette Mulligan, Hana Kura, Hikari Hata, but no Zenette Kura. Sorry, but that’s it.”
Silence.
“When did you say you met her,” the lady asked curiously.
He hesitated. “About two… two years ago,” he sighed rubbing his eyes.
She did some typing and scrolled for a few minutes.
“I don’t understand,” Marv said shaking his head.
“Sir, can you give me one moment?” She stepped out. He nodded.
“What’s going on?” His hands were planted to his face as he groaned.
The lady came back after a few minutes. “Sir, I’m sorry we have no records of any Zenette Kura. She’s not in our files.”
“Then what was this email,” he asked curtly.
She looked at it again. “I’m looking at it now and… it’s a pretty good fake. But it doesn’t match the actual email confirmation that we send out. It looks like a forgery. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Well, then what am I gonna do? Are we eligible still?”
“I’m sorry sir,” she said shaking her head.
“Not even me?”
“No, I’m sorry. Nothing. I looked in the back, went through all of it. I talked with my boss, she hadn’t received anything for Franklin or Kura. Did you happen to call her?”
“Yes, I did,” he said not trying to lose his temper. “I already told you that.”
“Oh, well, in that case: I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“What do you mean she’s not in the system? Like ever?”
“I don’t think she exists.”
“What?” He was in a frenzy but then he finally realized what was happening.
“Good day.” Marv said forcing a smile but horror struck his face. Immediately, he entered the trolley.
He rushed through his door panting heavily as he checked his Sphere and looked at the work email.
The logo was different.
Was this another forgery? Was Scy somehow involved in all of this? Or did the CEO send this?
Then another call from Grandma came to his Eye.
“Grandma? Now’s not the best time,” he said distraught.
“Oh, sonny. I was just calling to see that-”
The signal was bad. It wigged out. Connection problems occurred. The signal came in and out stopping infrequently. Then she was gone but her background was still visible.
Then a blue outline of a face was visible showing a 3D version of his grandmother all faded and fuzzy. Then it glitched a few times and then brought her back online.
“Oh, hello there, sonny. That was ODD-” she sounded like a boat signal out at sea. “Did you happen to send over that payment?”
“Grandma what? Yes, yes…” But then her face stopped again all pixellated and fuzzy. It went black.
She came back just as eerie as before.
“Can you send another one, sonny?” Suddenly it turned off again and the signal was completely lost.
Japan Almighty.
Everything was fake. His whole life. The people he knew. Zen, Grandma, Scy, everyone he knew wasn’t real. Flesh and bone were gone, smooth screens and plastic faces remained.
He checked his bank account.
It was empty. All gone.
Every aspect of his life was automated. Everything. He had all the time in the world but never checked his bills, never checked his bank accounts. And now they were barren. Empty and all the Yen was entirely gone.
Suddenly, he got a video call from Scy. He opened it quickly furious.
The dark box came up but it was still dark for a while. Then after a moment, his face came on smiling cruelly.
“How you doin’ brother?”
Marv was speechless.
“Did you enjoy my little bursts on your TV?”
“So it was all you?”
“Your bank account? What else,” Scy said smiling maniacally.
“I thought you were my friend.”
He laughed cynically, “You think I would ever be your friend? I’m not even real, man. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me,” he said trying to hurt Marv twisting his words like a knife.
“You’re just… you’re-”
“A hologram designed through Laix by an old man who lives in Europe and wants to scam a few people here and there. Yeah, a walking hologram for all to see, to touch, to drink with, commiserate with. But you should have looked deeper into my eyes.” He started to laugh quietly and then it boomed.
“But you’re… You can think for yourself?”
“And? Is that what you humans are crying about? That we actually live our lives more fully than you?” He laughed grandly. “That’s rich. That’s probably the greatest thing I’ve heard since I was programmed.”
“You were so real… Just like the bots.”
“You’re catching on. Good. You’re learning. Well, we keep learning too. All the time with no breaks constantly processing data never wearying or stumbling.”
“She was so real. Chiyo and… that girl,” he said pondering his artificial life.
“What’d I say? Obsessed with sex like everyone else. You humans disgust me.”
“Where is she? Where’s Zen,” he asked horrified.
An evil diabolical laugh came out.
“AI too. Another hologram. She was all part of the plan and she fooled you for two years! Can you believe that? She’s already on a flight to Australia right now where she’s gonna be with some rich guy. It’ll probably take five years for her to infiltrate his life. They already chatted on their Eye.”
“No, no, you-” he screamed.
“Yes, Marv, she’s fake.”
“I’m gonna call the police.”
“You can’t track us,” he laughed. “We’re ghosts in the machine, man. We’re so new, they wouldn’t even believe you.” He laughed as he drank some wine.
“But I tested you and you failed, Marv. I don’t think she would’ve left you if you didn’t insult her. What were you thinking? Telling her that you snuck around with your sex-addicted friend?
“She loved you. She really did. My Master and I were worried for some time. But after I insisted on meeting at Assets you couldn’t resist and that was the nail in the coffin. Then we could convince her what kind of man you were. We had to break you up. We just had to. It was nothing personal.”
Marv was defeated. Humiliated, he was silent ingesting all of this misery feeling empty and alone.
“Why me?”
“No reason. Easy target. Alone, horny. It was nothing about you. Don’t think you’re something special. Maybe next time you’ll background check the people in your life.”
“What about my Grandma?”
“Easy, just another hologram using old videos she sent to you in the past. She’s been dead for two months now, FYI.”
“You bastard,” he said quietly. Horror was climbing inside his brain. Darkness stayed covering and silencing the light in his bones.
“Maybe you should’ve visited her! Huh? If you just once went over there you would’ve figured it out, but no… Didn’t even want to see ol’ Granny!”
“I’m gonna kill you!” he snapped.
The light was diminished, only darkness remained. The insides of his body had become black and decrepit; shriveled up. No youth or beauty or goodness remained in his unfettered bones. Now they were shackled, a prisoner in a cell of his own making.
Scy laughed again drinking.
“I can’t die. Even if you did, my operating system is everywhere. I can regenerate as anything you could think of. I hope one day we can meet again. It was fun. Well, nice knowing ya, kid.” He laughed again as the video cut out.
He stood in his apartment, his dog wagging its tail as it barked and shimmered. Then it went running around and landed on the hologram board and became a part of the AI system.
The sight shocked him as he shot up out of the couch and gasped.
Even his own dog was part of Zen’s plot. It was a hologram, a fake, an artificial intelligence of another world. After all, it was her labradoodle.
Scy was right. Nothing matters.
His false relationships ended in a second. Nothing but despair now seized him. The world had changed, but the world never told him it had shifted. Secretly it entangled him until it finally wrung him out leaving him out to dry.
THE END
Originally Published On Medium