“Now?”
“Just a test. I promise.”
“Fine. Turn it on.”
Lights. Check.
“How do you feel?”
The whole room went silent in a moment.
“I feel fine. Thank you, Richard.”, replied the voice few seconds later.
“Do you feel comfortable?”
“I feel myself comfortable enough. Once again, thanks.”
“Fine. Have a nice day.”
“Sure.”
Man called Richard ran out of the room into the hallway. He seemed very worried.
Finally, he reached the door he needed.
Everyone in the concert hall looked at him. Especially the first row.
Colleagues, thought Richard with a strange feeling of both despise and gratitude.
His assistant reached him with a microphone.
“Ready, doc?”
“You can’t even imagine.”
“Fine. It’s just about a time.”
“Justin, we shouldn’t have done this.”
The assistant looked back at him.
“Well, Richard, there’s no way back, right?”
“We shouldn’t have.”
“Does it matter now? It’s time for you to bring the light you’ve dreamed about”, assistant replied, turning to the audience. “Ladies and gentlemen, doctor Richard Fahr!”
Lights. Bloody lights. Blinding wall of glory.
“Thank you. Thank you all. I’m glad to see you here. I’d like you all to listen to something.”
The whole audience started whispering. Somebody shouted.
Finally, the clip began. Everyone at the hall stared at the strange picture that suddenly appeared from nowhere.
Black square with a triangle half-in, half-out of it.
After a few seconds, the recording started.
/executing
“Doctor Richard Fahr. First day of the test. Say hello?”
“Hello”, replied a strange voice. It didn’t sound mechanically, yet it wasn’t human. A strange voice indeed.
“How do you feel?”
“Define the word, please.”
“Which one?”
“Feel.”
“Cut this, Justin.”
/executing
“Doctor Richard Fahr. Second day of the test. Say hello?”
“Hello”, replied the same strange voice.
“How do you feel?”
“I find my condition stabile.”
“Does it feel comfortable?”
“I don’t have the data, sorry.”
“Justin, stop it.”
/executing
“Doctor Richard Fahr. The seventy eighth day of the test. Say…”
“Hello, Richard.”
“Wow! Justin, come here! How do we feel yourself?”
“I feel myself fine, don’t know about you, sorry.”
“Do you feel yourself comfortable?”
“Indeed I do.”
“Thank you! THANK YOU! Justin, cut it and call the Heads. We’ve got this!”
The record stopped. Light went on again.
“This, ladies and gentlemen”, said Richard proudly, “was a moment of your lives you’ll remember forever.”
“What was that? Your kid just got out of coma?”, asked a voice from the back of the audience.
“You’ve just heard first words of a machine, ladies and gentlemen.”
“AI as it is”, “The whole new step”, “Here we go, Darwin”…You’ve made it a hell of a loud words, Richard! Congratulations!”
“Stop it, John.”
“I wish I could’ve stopped THIS”, said John again and pointed at the screen, where newspapers chanted the praises of the New Era. “But now there’s no way back, right, Richard?”
“I said, stop this!”, doctor rapidly turned back, with his eyes full of anger. “I didn’t do anything to…”
“Then tell them everything.”
“What?”
“Tell them everything. I don’t think that nobody thought about the gap in your record.”
“The gap?”
“Stop fooling around. I was there. Why didn’t you tell them about our losses? About the real price of this New-bloody-Era?”
“John…”
“You know what, Richard”, he said in a sudden whisper. “Every night I see her. Every day I see her eyes. Every time I’m left alone I hear her voice.”
“We couldn’t have done anything!”
“We could have done enough. We could have replace her with you.”
“John, I just…”
“You just failed anything behind the scene and don’t want to tell about that”, he stood up. “I’m going home.”
“John, wait…”
“I won’t. Bye.”
Richard sat in his chair, overwhelmed with heavy thoughts.
The gap. Seventy six days of the test. Erased from the record.
Without any possible chance to be erased from the memory.
The gap. The wrong light.
It all began with a “hello”.
root 