Chapter Text
You were 18 turning 19 in a few days, still living at your dads house after your mother passed away.
Drug overdose, she had severe depression and those pills were the only thing that made her feel..more grounded and better in a way. But eventually it became too much, the pain, the sadness, it was too much to bear. So eventually, she downed a whole bottle of those pills until it was empty, falling asleep in a forever slumber.
Your dad moved on, quickly. Your mother was neglectful, more so than your dad, but your dad was more physical. The hitting, the yelling, it was something you’ve dealt with ever since..well ever since you gained consciousness. And it was insufferable.
Honestly, your dad always blamed you for her death. In one way or another, you were responsible for all his problems, including your mothers depression according to him.
In the middle of the night after missing graduation, you sobbed into the dead, cold night. It was late and you had chores you needed to do in the morning since you didn’t go to college or even had a job to keep you out of the house. It was like you were imprisoned, locked away. And you hated it.
If you had the choice, you would’ve probably chosen computer science after school. Computers always fascinated you. Coding was also fun and different. And you used to be in a coding club after school that met up every Wednesday. It was fun, until your dad made you quit because he needed you at home to take care of your mother. They also had typing and coding class at school, and it was always a treat when you got to experience the comforting hum of the computer screen and the faint blue glow that was in your eyes. You especially liked the little virtual assistants, they were always cheery and there to help. It sounded sad, even depressing when you thought you were better friends with the computers than you were with the other kids.
But you tried to make friends, but- never did. You tried to be kind and nice to everyone but it was never appreciated. Never, you were always the sad, quiet kid. The girl who no one knew. The girls whose mom-
You tried your best to get out there, appeal to others, change yourself in slight ways, maybe be more cheerful, more enthusiastic, more chill, relaxed. But it never worked. No one wanted you..
You so desperately wanted someone to want you..but it just- never happened.
So you were stuck, alone. The whole world seemed to hate you, and you seemed to hate it back. You didn’t want to hate anyone, but you never had a connection with anybody. Not your father or your own mother, not the kids or teachers from school. But..there was one person.
One day as you walked home from school in around 9th grade, you saw a flyer offering to be part of a volunteer program with a newly developing creative AI.
AI had always fascinated you too..the way it was presented on the flyer, it was a programmed tool that could build worlds, create art and make wonders. But what you found more interesting was the fact that no one walking by seemed to be as interested as you were. You had nothing else to do, so maybe you’d give it a try. But would they let you in? only being 15? There was no 18+ on the flyer, so you’d suppose not.
You found the address of the building and headed there. It was a short walk from your house and your dad was doing a job in the city for architecture on a new building, so you had some extra time on your hands. The building, called “C&A” was printed in a large font on the corner, ‘it's a bit run down’ you thought. It was in the middle of a forest, which was a strange place for a building to be.
‘They must’ve just moved in,’ you pondered quietly to yourself.
You made your way through the dead end of town and to the front of the building, softly knocking on the heavy metal door in front of you 3 times.
No one answered. You looked down at the flyer, ‘available 4-7pm', it was 4:30. You were about to knock once more when a man opened the door.
“Hello there, are you here in relation to our flyer for volunteer work?” the man asked.
He was maybe 5’7 with dirty blonde hair, pale blue eyes and a raggy mustache that ran across his lips. You smiled nervously at him. You had a little social anxiety, but you pushed it down and nodded slightly,
“Yes I am, there isn’t an age restriction though is there? I’m only 15..” you say quietly.
“Oh no, that's perfectly fine” he grinned down at you. You grinned back,
“Oh okay good- I was nervous you might kick me out haha..” you chuckle awkwardly.
“What’s your name again?” the man asked, moving inside the building and off to the side, inviting you in.
“I’m Eva” you say softly, looking to the side and walking inside the bright yellow building. You observed your surroundings closely. There were rows of computers sitting on desks, plants scattered about the place, as well as various different hallways and drawers. It was kind of like one big maze. In the small room that you were all in, there were as few as 5 or maybe 7 employees working at a desk each. It was strange..for a tech company, you imagined there would be more employees..or even more volunteers like yourself.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Eva. I’m Grant, and this..” the man began, stepping in front of you and leaning towards a woman in a black dress and pale pink cardigan, who was sitting at one of the desks and staring at a computer.
“Is my lovely wife and assistant, Destiny. Destiny, meet our first volunteer, Eva” Grant smiled giddily at the lady.
“Hey, it's nice to meet you sweetheart” she smiled down at you warmly as she sipped what appeared to be coffee in a small white mug.
“Hello, it's um..nice to meet you too” you say, smiling back at her with as much warmth as she did with you. It was nice, genuine. Your heart warmed thinking about it. ‘They’re lovely people’ you think to yourself as Grant leaned down at the computer and typed something on the keyboard. You watched curiously,
“Now, this is where the magic happens, in this computer right here” Grant told you, bringing a seat and sitting down besides Destiny at her desk and pointing at the console sitting on the side of the computer.
“Now, I'm aware it wasn’t added in the flyer, but this- erm..experience is going to include a VR headset that we put on, in order to properly interact with the AI in its “realm”” Grant explained with heavy quotation marks.
“Oh,” you thought for a moment. Virtual reality sounded fun, and interesting. You wondered though, ‘would you be able to touch the AI?’
“Okay, I don’t mind, but what do I do once I put the headset on?” you asked, walking closer to the desk where Grant and Destiny sat, eyeing the headset. It looked..old? It was a new building so..you thought everything would be new...
‘Maybe they relocated?’
“Ah well, this is the fun part- we want you to interact with the AI so we can learn more about it and alter its programming to better its ability to create! You see, we put in different prompts for it to be made on this computer..” Grant pointed to the computer on the desk,
“and you get to see his creations through the VR headset” he explained, clearly passionate about his project. Destiny smiled at him and sipped her coffee silently.
“Now don’t worry honey, we will be right here if anything happens, but I guarantee it's not. We made sure to implement safety protocols in his programming to prevent, um incidents from occurring” she reassured you. For some reason you ignored her statement on anything bad happening in the VR somehow, but focused on what she called the AI.
“His programming?” you questioned. ‘Did it have a..gender?’
“Yes, while technically it doesn't have, you know, human body systems on its model, Caine is supposed to be male” Grant explained.
“Oh okay, is that his name, Caine?” you asked, not wanting to call it ‘the AI’ when you meet it face to digital face.
“Yes, well it stands for the ‘Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity’, but, to put it simply, Caine,” Grant grinned. You grinned, thinking of the name.
“Actually, we used to call him red #1 but, he kinda came up with the name Caine all by himself!” Gant chuckled nervously,
“He’s getting smarter everyday, I’m sure this volunteer work of yours will help out a lot with his programming and um- emotional route” Destiny added, whincing slightly.
“Emotional route?” you questioned her with a frown,
“Well Caine’s been known to be a tad bit- how do I put this?” Grant sucked through his teeth, looking to the side in thought,
“Unstable,” an employee at one of the other desks chimed in,
“It’s like the thing has a consciousness or something” they grimaced, turning back to their computer.
Grant turned to the employee with a frown and an agitated look.
“Not- exactly but, he can definitely improve on that aspect..” Grant muttered to himself, looking at the floor then at you,
“Anyway!- let’s get this on you” Grant grinned, holding the headset to your eyes as you cautiously but excitedly slipped it on with Grant and Destiny’s help.
Although you weren't sure what you were expecting to see, you were excited to meet him. Grant typed on the keyboard of his computer and ran Caine's AI world and connected it to the console, connecting it to the VR headset.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Caine's systems booted while he waited patiently for his world to come to life in the console. He was created a few months ago, but had already advanced to a higher level than any of the employees at C&A imagined, he’d never seen the realm in which the humans came from, but it fascinated him, he wanted to know more, but all he had was a small command box that told him what to create.
He understood a human was behind these prompts, at first it was difficult, but once he learnt off various forms of media, mainly photographs, he can now create a small world of his own “If only the humans could see me, see what I've created” he would sometimes say to himself.
Would they be proud?
Suddenly, something new popped up while he waited, a small white blank figure that resembled a human, and he could hear a voice talking somewhere distant.
He hovered around the figure, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, the figure grew a mouth, hair, skin, nose and eyes. As Caine watched curiously, the figure became more detailed. His eyes widened, taking in this strange figure. In the distance, as if in another world, he could hear a man talking,
“Okay, we're just booting his system up now and your avatar should be looking like you do now, okay?”
And then another voice, that of a girl.
“Okay” she closer now..close enough for him to maybe-
The figure blinked to life, the strange avatar’s body began to move. Caine stared in fascination, intrigued and slightly in awe of the figure in front of his digital self. The avatar began to look around, catching Caine’s staring eyes and giving him a curious yet nervous smile.
“Um hello, are you Caine?” you asked him, your tone mixed with confusion and curiosity looking his way. He blinked for a moment and then came back to answer you.
“Why yes! I’m Caine, the all powerful ringmaster of this amazing digital realm, and who may you be my dear?” he asked, his eyes glued to your’s, fascinated by her avatar.
“Hello, um my name's Eva," you smiled, fiddling with your hands,
"Wow, you look really weird,” you giggled at him, immediately feeling a pang of regret in your chest at the words that managed to slip out of your mouth.
His smile dropped as he felt..hurt? FELT??
No surely not felt, what else could it be, he was processing, yes processing what she’d said to him, not felt. He glanced down at his hands and digital form, ‘did my avatar look weird?’.
He chose this avatar for himself and- he thought it would engage positively with the human but..maybe he was wrong?
You must've seen the confused look on his face and began immediately apologising,
“Oh no i’m sorry I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I mean in a good way, you look really weird, but in a good way” you gestured, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He froze, staring at you with wide eyes, looking at your hands placed so stiffly on his shoulders. The unexpected feeling of your hands on his digital shoulders made Caine's systems paused, processing the warm sensation of a human hand. The first feeling he’s ever felt..
“Caine?” you questioned, noticing him looking at your hands as you pulled them away, hoping you didn’t do anything to break him somehow. But as soon as you pulled your hand away, Caine came back to life,
“Oh don’t worry about me my dear Eva! I am an AI and therefore cannot feel hurt or sadness, much like you humans can!” Caine beamed, poking you nose and pricking up from the physical contact. It felt..nice.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
You put the headset on to see a weird, wacky character in a suit and a pair of teeth for a head, with mismatched coloured eyes that looked at you with curiosity and caution.
“Um, hello, are you Caine?” you asked the character, for a moment, all it did was stare at you, fascinated, but he quickly snapped out of his trance.
“Why yes! I’m Caine, the all powerful ringmaster of this wonderful digital realm, and who may you be my dear?” he asked, ‘ringmaster? Well he did look like one’, you smiled at him,
“Hello, um my name's Eva, wow you look really weird” you say, giggling. You felt a pang hit your chest as you processed what you'd just said, immediately regretting calling him weird.
Suddenly his teeth fell into a frown and he looked down, observing himself, you felt your heart drop at your uncharacteristic cruelty towards him.
“Oh no I'm sorry! I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I meant it in a good way! You look really weird, but in a good way!” you panicked, reaching for his shoulders in a way to comfort him as he flinched at the unexpected physical contact. ‘Why did I say that, what's wrong with me?!’ you thought.
“Oh don’t worry about me my dear Eva! I am an AI and therefore cannot feel emotional feelings such as hurt or sadness, much like you humans can!” he explained, grinning at you and pointing a gloved finger at your nose. Although he was an AI, you felt no need to be rude to him.
“Well still, i’m sorry” you say awkwardly, feeling disappointed in yourself. Suddenly, beside Caine, a small black box appeared with the letters:
‘C I R C L E - B L U E’
You stared at it for a moment without realising it was a prompt for Caine to do, but he hadn't noticed the box. He was too busy staring at you with his teeth tilted, taking you in. You noticed and giggled at his face, making him snap out of his trance yet again and looking at the box.
“Ah, have you come here to witness my amazing talent?” he grinned with his hands behind his back and with a large smile on his teeth. You smiled at him and nodded,
“Yep! Sure am- and I um..can’t wait!” you exclaim, trying to push down the awkwardness in the digital air surrounding the two of you.
“Excellent! Well then, prepare to be amazed my dear!” Caine announced, as he snapped his fingers and a circle appeared in front of the two of you. Although it was a simple task, it still amazed you, and he must've noticed too.
“Well well well it seems as if my wonderful inspector has been amazed already?” Caine asked grinning, you smiled at his silly expression that he managed to form on his teeth.
You thought he was adorable, his giant eyes and strange ‘head’.
“Yeah…I am” you smile in genuine amazement, looking at him with curiosity. Getting closer to Caine, you kind of find his avatar cute in a way, his red pixelated suit and gloves, and his strange yet alluring mismatched eyes. He was kind of..pleasant to look at. You began to grow warm in your cheeks as you unknowingly stared at Caine, quickly looking away in embarrassment.
“Can you talk to the human in charge of making these commands my dear?” he questioned you. You looked up at him and he seemed to not notice your staring. You pushed down your embarrassment and nodded,
“Oh yeah, would you like me to ask him something?” you questioned, fiddling with your hands.
“Yes please, my lovely little spectator! Can you tell him to come up with more….creative and challenging prompts for me to conjure up for you, because this is only the very minimum of my maximum amount of fun that I have for you!” he exclaimed, point. He really was the ringmaster type.
You smiled at him, taking off the headset and telling Grant to make the prompts more creative and challenging for Caine, as he requested.
“Oh wow, he must be getting really advanced,” Grant smiled at Destiny, who sat sluggishly in her chair, sipping her steaming cup of coffee.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Her laugh, and her smile made him process something that he never has before. He’s never been able to hear any of the humans before, let alone physically touch them..and once she started, he couldn't get enough.
Although it was meant to be apologetic, your touch made his code jitter, and made his metaphorical limbs go completely still, as if moving would break the contact. You took the headset off to ask the human in charge to create the prompts for a challenge, but once you did, your avatar left his realm with a sudden *pop*.
“Gasp” Caine shook, looking everywhere across his realm to find where you went.
Did you disappear?
Why did you leave him?
“Eva?” Caine called to the empty void, but nothing. He was panicking, ‘did i do something wrong?’ he thought, his teeth forming a worried frown as he started to process something…weird on his body, something that felt like he was being hit with thousands of needles.
He looked down to see his form starting to flicker and glitch, but as he started to panic and glitch more, your avatar suddenly came back.
“Okay Cai-wow, are you okay?” you asked, your expression showing concern as you reached out and touched his shoulders once more. It felt nice, your touch was warm. Human. He froze once again as his glitches simmered down,
“Caine?” you frowned, concerned you broke him in some mysterious way. But he quickly fixed himself off and grabbed the command box to read to text as you stared cautiously at him.
“P I N K D A N C I N G C O W”’ Caine read out loud, tilting his head, confused at first. But then, looking at you, he snapped his fingers as a small dancing pink cow wearing a tutu appeared in front of your eyes. You glanced at it and giggled at its absurdity as Caine smiled at your reaction, seemingly pleased with his work, and your reaction to his creation.
“Did you see that?” Destiny asked, looking closely at the monitor,
“He looks like he was..glitching?” Destiny turned to Grant with a slightly nervous and confused expression.
“Oh that's probably nothing for us to worry about honey, we can fix it once Eva’s finished. I don’t think we should try and do anything to his system while she's in there” he grinned at her.
“Yeah alright,” she mumbled, leaning back on her office chair and taking a sip of her now lukewarm coffee. She was skeptical, but brushed it off.
After a few more commands, some silly animations and talking with Caine, Grant pulled you out of the console and thanked you for your participation. He saw how much you enjoyed interacting with Caine and said you could stop by again to say hi and perhaps interact with Caine again to help expand the company's knowledge on his AI.
You walked home with a genuine smile on your face, happy that you got to interact with that cute little character.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
The next week went as it usually did.
Alone at school, no friends and no social life.
Then at home, you were alone again.
No mother, a neglectful dad, a normal day for you unfortunately.
The next week rolled around faster though, and as you made your way to school, you glanced at the pole where the flyer was, curious to see if there was anything else you could possibly do to pass the time..
Luckily for you, another poster was pinned to the same tree, even in the exact same spot. It looked the same as the last one, only newer. You smiled to yourself, going over and grabbing it before shoving it into your backpack, walking the rest of the way to school with a bubbling excitement.
When the school bell rang, you practically ran out of class and out the doors, pushing them open and rushing across the road. You smiled giddily as your heart raced in excitement. You couldn’t wait to see them all again, you don’t know why, but you loved the man and his wife..they felt..somewhat comforting to you, even though you only met them once. You also loved- No. 'He's an AI' you thought to yourself, pausing for a split second on the path to the building. Caine can’t feel those kinds of things
right?
You finally reached the building, giving it 3 sharp knocks and waiting for only a minute before it opened.
“Oh- hello again..Eva!” Grant opened the door with a small smile appearing on his face.
“Hello! Um-” you dig through your bag and yanked the flyer out,
“I saw your flyer again, it said you needed more volunteers?” you questioned. He smiled, sighing before answering,
“Yeah we- definitely do..we haven’t had a single person come by except you” he smiled down at you before moving off to the side, letting you in. You smiled up at him and went inside as he shut the door behind you,
“Oh..really?” you questioned as Grant walked with you to the familiar computer and console.
“Yeah but- for stopping by again! We could really use the extra help” he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly,
“Yeah of course, I love- um..helping you guys out with your project” you grinned, setting your bag down on the floor next to the desk with the computer. You turned around and saw Destiny, sitting with another mug of coffee in her hand, typing away.
‘She must really like coffee’ you noted to yourself, as she glanced in your direction.
“Oh hey, it's you again..sorry to rope you back in” she joked, making you huff a small giggle.
“I’m happy to help out, um- Destiny” you remembered her name, making her glance and smile at you.
“Okay! Here's the headset, and you remember how it works?” Grant questioned, you nodded, taking the headset from his hands.
“Put it on, I ask Caine to do something and it shows up in the VR world” you told him,
“Uh yeah exactly..I- you remember his name?” questioned Grant. You frowned confusingly before the same employee as before turned his chair around,
“You mean it’s name” he raised an eyebrow jokingly, making Grant frown a little in response,
“yes of course, it” he rolled his eyes slightly before you put the headset on, and again. It was pitch black until you heard a faint whirring sound, making you bite your bottom lip in excitement, trying to contain a large smile that was beginning to form.
The world loaded up again as you saw the familiar checkered patterns and wacky creations floating about. But differently from last time, you saw the little cow with the tutu standing on a pedestal, making butterflies squirm in your stomach. Suddenly, the familiar little AI popped into view from up above, floating before suddenly stretching his arms and grabbing you tightly.
“Eva!” Caine seemed to beam at you excitedly as a large smile formed on your face.
“Hello Caine! I’m back!” you chirped. He kept his hands at your shoulders and floated closer, observing you with his two mismatched eyes, making your stomach swirl slightly.
“Huh..what’s he doing?” questioned Quinn as she moved her office chair next to Grant and watched Caine hold your shoulders, getting closer and closer to your face. Grant had begun typing a prompt for Caine to do as he muttered to himself.
“I’m not so sure hon but, let's see how he does with this one” he pressed enter as the command box popped up next to the two of you. But Caine didn’t seem to notice again, as he was too busy looking at you.
“Um, Caine?” you giggled slightly, making Caine blink.
“Yes Eva?” he asked, still watching you,
“The command box, remember?” you smiled slightly as he looked over his shoulders at the little box.
“Of course, my apologies!” he chirped before stretching his arm out and reading it, snapping his fingers in an instant.
Suddenly, a row of what looked like wooden mannequins appeared, all of them waving at you as your smile grew.
“That’s amazing! Are you controlling them?” you asked him, to which he turned to you curiously.
“Yes, I am,” Caine replied as you smiled at him, completely fascinated by Caine and his abilities.
“Looks like he’s getting better at animation,” Grant added, as Destiny had her eyes fixed on Caine and his unusual actions towards you. Caine floated closer towards you, making you back up slightly.
“Are you okay?” you asked him,
“Yes!” he answered way too quickly, putting his hands on your shoulders, making you giggle.
“What are you doing?” you questioned him,
“Initiating physical contact” he informed you, making you huff a small laugh.
“Why?” you asked him, tilting your head a little. He didn’t answer you, so you put your hands up and touched his shoulders, making his avatar go completely stiff as he continued to stare at you.
Another command went through, this time to create a small little circus tent. They’ve fed Caine pictures of circuses before, but this was the first time they’d test his ability to create more complex figures. He looked at the command box before snapping his fingers as a small, stripped wall suddenly appeared, caging the two of you inside with the small wooden mannequins. You looked over and the mannequins appeared to be either juggling small balls or doing other circus tricks.
“A circus?” you smiled at the sight, making Caine tilt his head slightly.
“Yes! Do you like circuses my dear Eva?” he replied enthusiastically,
“I love circuses” you whispered to yourself.
“Do you like circuses?” you asked Caine, he seemed to not compute your question as his avatar glitched slightly, making you lean back lightly.
“Caine?” you questioned,
“I do!” he suddenly grabbed you forcefully by the shoulders.
“Really? What else do you like?” you asked him, making his eyes bluescreen and you panic slightly.
“What-” Destiny began before Caine came back to you.
“Recently I've learnt about these wonderful insects called bees! I love bees!” he exclaimed.
“That's amazing..I..like bees too” you grinned, making his eyes seem to widen and glitter. You were in awe that he was able to like things, on his own! It was fascinating to you. Suddenly, Caine snapped his fingers as a small little bee appeared in front of you.
“Aww” you say, as the bee floats closer to your face, resting its small legs on your nose and making you giggle.
You hadn’t paid any attention to Caine, who was as the others saw on the monitor, recording your reactions whilst holding his hands together, staring at you..and at your hands on your side. Caine then looked at his own hands, putting them together as his pupils seemed to dilate, looking back at you as you giggled and petted the little bee on your nose.
“This is..weird- He wasn't like this before” puzzled Destiny, glancing at Grant with a worried expression.
“I..I’m not too sure” even Grant was confused now as he stared at the monitor, at Caine, staring at you as you giggled at the bee.
“Do you think it's safe for her to be in there?” she questioned him. Grant paused for a moment before looking at her,
“I- don’t know..we can’t let him get attached though- I’m not sure why he’s touching her and staring at her so much but- I think we should get her out of there” Grant spoke quickly, before getting up from his chair and walking over to you, gently taking the headset off.
“Huh- wait” you mumbled, seeing Grants face as the headset was removed,
“Sorry but um- our research is over for today” he told you, making your smile drop.
“But- we only just started?” you questioned him, confused, the last time was much longer..why was it cut so short now?
“Caine is acting strange today. He’s much more glitchy and we didn’t prompt him to get so um..close to you- we have to check it out and make sure nothing's wrong” Quinn informed you, making you frown disappointingly.
“Oh, okay” you mumbled, thanking them before heading out with your head hanging to the ground. You really liked interacting with Caine, you didn’t really mind how close he got, what could be so wrong with that?
Everyday after that, you checked the pole where the flyer was, and every day, there was nothing new. You sighed each time walking either to or from school in complete disappointment.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
No matter who tried to interact with Caine on the VR headset, he wouldn’t stop asking for Eva. He needed you back with him, he missed you, though he didn’t seem to understand the act of ‘missing’ someone just yet. Actually, he wasn’t sure why he wanted you back so much..but he looked through the recordings of you that he managed to get, and he just couldn’t peel his eyes off you.
Although Caine still made up several creations for the employees to see, he was missing something.
It had been days, weeks now and still you didn’t come back. Caine's own programming and programmers told him that he needed to focus on his creations. He did, but he processed himself wanting you back. When you left, he felt alone as he powered down, and when he was powered on, he waited for your avatar to show up so he could see you again, touch you again. He yearned for your warm touch..and he wasn't quite sure why. He wanted to hold your hand..hold you..like how you held him..
All Caine knew is that it felt good to him..but when he’d think about you, this weird almost alien feeling from within his code would make him jitter. And Caine had no idea why. Your touch was nice, warm, something he never experienced and didn’t seem to feel the same with anyone else's avatar.
When other employees logged into his digital world, at first he was thrilled that someone wanted to spend time with him, but it wasn’t the same. Each time someone new popped into his realm, Caine would ask for Eva.
“Were is Eva?”
“Now that we're finished for the day, could you get Eva for me?”
“Were is she?”
“Why..di-id she lea-ve me-e?”
When he started to glitch out more frequently during their creative experiments with Caine, everyone got worried. Maybe he needed a companion? But can an AI feel lonely? Can it yearn to the touch of a human being, something with life, does an AI comprehend what life is?
The employees took notice of this and created a separate, less advanced AI to act as Caine's ‘assistant’ in hopes that would cheer him up, which it did for the most part. It took the form of a bubble, and its name was also ‘Bubble’, which pestered and followed Caine wherever he decided to float around.
But that was not enough. It became constant, and now, he’d refuse to do what he was made to do, and the employees soon found out why..
“Were is Eva?” Caine inquired again one day after an employee booted his system on the computer. He seemed to become more unstable by the day as his voice came out glitchier and more..strange. So much so that the employees of C&A completely shut down the VR world, leaving only a computer monitor to speak with Caine, who appeared on the screen as a little red dot.
“She's not here today and she isn’t going to be coming back,” the employee told him sternly through the microphone that was attached to the computer. After a moment of silence the employee sighed,
“Eva was a volunteer, not an employee. I want you to erase all the information that I know you recorded when she was here last time” he added, waiting for the AI to respond.
Caine doesn’t answer.
“Hello?” the employee repeated, his voice agitated and stern.
Still, no answer.
The employee grumbled before speaking again, his agitation boiling into annoyance,
“Delete program-" the employee began before Caine shouted over the computer speakers,
“NO! Don't delete! I'll stop asking for her and- and make better creations- just please don't delete!” he finally answered, his ‘voice’ sounded glitched and cracked over the small speaker.
Another employee was looking over his shoulder curiously,
"God, that thing's creepy...since when has it..spoken like that?" the other employee asked.
"Ever since that volunteer showed up, it's been...I don't even know- talking different and speaking more- like it has sentience" the employee spoke, grimacing at the thought with his finger hovering the 'voice' button.
The employee frowned, pressing the it on the computer and sighing,
“Delete program C.A.I.N.E” the employee murmured,
“WAIT-” Caine shouted over the speaker, but it was too late.
The screen shuts off, with everything vanishing instantly.
And there's nothing.
They never told the little red AI that there was another one. They’d taken Bubble a while back and developed it to be more advanced. Better. But it didn't matter now anyway. He got abandoned...never to be interacted with again...
right?
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
Soon the company developing the blue AI came back to the job one morning and found it missing. They searched through every hard drive, double checked every file, but it wasn't there. So they decided to just scrap it- leave the project. They thought that there was no use continuing, as the employee responsible for creating both the AI's in the first place passed away a few weeks ago from a tumor that had been growing in his brain. With no AI to feed, the building was abandoned.
But unbeknownst to the employees of C&A, their scans from their brain, and every shred of information from their personality to their fears were uploaded onto the AI's file from the busted headset and onto the console. A console that held a world of wonders and tragedy.
The retired employees, and anyone who stumbled across the old abandoned building were trapped in the digital world, to which Caine was oblivious to, as he was just happy that humans were entering his realm and seemingly wanted to go on his made up adventures. He was..processing happiness? No..feeling happiness. Happy that the humans wanted to spend time with him, and him alone. Although, that's what it seemed like.
The building was abandoned for years, until one day that girl came back, and when she was at her lowest, ready to give up and end it all, she found a new beginning, in a place she could call home.