Dating : Coded

Taking on the problems of others has always been easy for me. I have made a connection to and with people that were hard for family and friends to understand. It always made for great moments of laughter; a good cry; and at times, arguments because people aren’t supposed to know other people as well as I do, without being let into their mind and heart, voluntarily. Ryan and I were similar in ways, so when her first arrived at my office, no appointment, bloodshot eyes, I had no choice but to pull her in and sit her down.

My patients love me because I feel what they feel, and they see it. As with those family and friends, patients often look up and find me wiping tears from my face; or seeing that same face twisted in confusion, a bit of anger or disappointment for what they are divulging, and they feel like I understand. And I do.

Forty years ago, the idea of robots having feelings as we humans do, was an absurd leap into an ambitious science fiction project, at best. Ryan, a human, was adopted by the Intron family — the most prominent of robot families in New Lower AM. After the fall of the Third Dictatorship, humans and robots came to evolve in a way that humanity alone quite couldn’t — even after a coup of mixed rebels was able to oust the last president of modern society. Zintrus Intron, a key figure in the Rebellion, was appointed Head of State, spearheaded the foundation of a cabinet of both human and robot players that were about the people, finally, in sincerity.

Cash no longer ruled, and blockchain technology made it difficult for anyone to have a status that squashed others. Prominence, in the New Lower AM, was about the morality of a being, whether man or machine. Ryan made her way to my office and I rushed her inside, knowing that the NLAM authorities were hunting for her. Stories surfaced that someone had juiced the mainframe, the motherboard of Zintrus, and while her mother had become a suspect, due to whispers of domestic violence; there were only a select few human beings who knew exactly how to infiltrate their mainframe and “juice” a robot — ending their existence.

We sat in my office and as we talked, I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew that I was one of those few.

“Can you help me?”

“What exactly can I do, but give you an evaluation that the high court may find suitable to just put you on The Mountain until you’re just traces of blood?”

“You’ve got to help me get out of here.”

“Oh, that — that’s — I’m,” cutting me off, she made an offer I couldn’t refuse.

“I know what you want, and I can make sure you have it.” She gave a wry smile and I returned the same. Villains are merely superheroes who either lost their balance; or simply discovered it.