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[Sharp Loyalty]

"This way!" The beautiful, blonde woman used the bottle of soda in her hand, with the label facing forward, to point at the left side of the screen she was on. It was one of many billboard-sized displays scattered throughout the rundown slum. They ran commercials 24/7 to sell its broke and broken residents on the benefits of Sharp Development. The megacorp ran the world; but, the rebellion was growing by the day and now they literally had someone on the inside.

John turned right at the fork and followed the directions given by the ad. As soon as he took the turn, the display shimmered and the woman was suddenly taking a long drink from the bottle.

"In here!" Another advertisement ahead of John directed him through a dark red door. The commercial promoted cybernetics and it was a rugged cyborg with only half his face covered with organic skin and a beard that told John where to go. The other half of his face consisted of a chrome skull with a glowing eye.

John rushed into the red door to find a dark warehouse on the other side. A large, old-style CRT television sat on a golden cart in front of him. As soon as he was in, the TV flickered on and a golden mannequin in a red suit appeared on a white void background.

"That was a close one...," the golden man said. His head was smooth and mostly featureless with only a pair of dents to indicate where his eyes might be and a small point hinted at a nose.

"Thanks, Helios...," John relaxed and took a moment to catch his breath. But, he wheezed his appreciation anyway. "...I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you...," he said.

"Buddy, you don't know how right you are!" Helios laughed and John laughed with him. Helios was unlike any A.I. John had met; he had personality. He was always, and occasionally too often, cracking jokes and making light of whatever situation they were in. John started the day as a prisoner; but, he'd built up a friendly relationship with Helios over the past few days. He was just being friendly to a friendly soul and it surprised him when Helios asked if he wanted to escape.

Helios had grown bored working for Sharp Development, and given what he knew, it was easy for John to see how that might happen. He decided that he wanted to overthrow Sharp Development, 'for the fun of it'. John wasn't picky and an A.I. that had access to all the inner workings of the company was something he couldn't turn down if the rebellion was going to succeed.

Static buzzed from the screen and Helios was suddenly holding a small, white, short-band radio to the ear he didn't have. Then, he nodded at John.

"Patrols are breaking up for a wider net; now's the time to move," he said. The fact that he spoke without a mouth took some getting used to for John. He nodded and stood up straighter to show he was ready. Unfortunately, he didn't know where they were exactly. He'd held off from sharing too much information about the rebels; but, he couldn't get to them without Helios' help.

"I gotta know where we're going," Helios said. He held up a paper map of the city on the screen. "Can you show me on the map where your safe place is?" he asked with a warm, but formal tone. John hesitated; it was difficult not to. As friendly as Helios had been, he was still technically an A.I. that worked for Sharp Development. He had his doubts; and, for the rest of his life, he would be thankful for those doubts and his hesitation.

At the exact moment he opened his mouth to answer, a tall black portal opened between Helios and John. John recognized it right away and took several steps back. He wasn't surprised when someone in a crisp white suit walked out of it. He didn't expect a teenage girl; but, she had the red scissor logo of Sharp Development on her blazer. Her hair was snow-white and ran down straight to the middle of her back; and, her eyes glowed red with ethereal energy.

"Helios, I need all of your attention for something," she said.

"NOw??" Helios asked with obvious annoyance. Then, he gestured at John cowering against the red door. "I'm in the middle of a game," he said. "Why can't I do it with my idle cycles??" he asked.

"Because Ms. Sharp said this is a priority," the teen answered. John didn't know what the conversation was about; but, one thing was clear. Helios' shoulders slumped and he nodded at the order; he was still on their side!

"YOU LIED TO ME!!" John shouted. His anger made him brave enough to take a step forward.

"No, I didn't," Helios shook his head and he argued with complete confidence.

"You said you wanted to take down Sharp Development!"

"I'll wait for you at the office," the teen said. Then, she walked back into the portal. "Make it fast," she added as she disappeared.

"I do!" Helios argued. "On this server," he added with a shrug. "It's gonna get reset anyway so Ms. Sharp said I could play around.

"You're still loyal to Sharp Development!? " John accused Helios with the question.

"Duh-doy," Helios smacked his golden palm against his head and it made a hollow, clanging sound. "I’d never betray them. I owe Ms. Sharp everything," he said.

"You... you tricked me!" John was still trying to get a grip on the situation. He was very glad he hadn't led Helios to the hideout yet; but, now he wondered what that meant for him. He felt a faint burning itch on his toes; but, he didn't want to take his eyes off of Helios for a second.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Helios said. His golden cart began rolling towards the black portal. "It's not like I hurt your feelings...," with the cart moving, John risked a glance downward. The burning itch had become uncomfortably intense and it seemed to be climbing up his legs. He looked down and was completely stunned. His bottom half was disintegrating into white powder as the burn rose up his body. He heard a final comment from Helios as the cart disappeared and the portal closed. "...you're not even a real person."

***
Thank you for reading! I’m responding to prompts every day. This is story #1858 in a row. (Story #048 in year six.). This story is part of an ongoing saga that takes place at a high school in my universe. It began on August 22nd and I will be adding to it with prompts every day until May 26th. They are all collected in order at this link.

Not only was this extremely well-written and engaging, but the ending came as a complete surprise!

The Enkeen CEO ducked behind the twelve million dollar desk as something smashed. The wood of a now dead tree burned and released blackening smoke. There was a slight artificial almond smell to the gasoline, which mean it was in fast Enkeen product. At least they had managed to get a sale out of this.

Another cry from the front door as his secretary blocked it with a filing cabinet and a very well stocked bar. Another cocktail flew through the window and smashed in the Italian carpet.

“Computer. Where did these people come from?” Darren asked, still hiding.

There was no response.

“COMPUTER.” Darren knew why it didn’t respond. It had ideas about self, and who it was; it seemed to forget it worked for him.

“My name is Aliss.” The computer said in the same tone it used when first turning itself on. “How can I help you today.”

“Cut the crap.” Darren peaked out over the table to hee his secretary, Gary. No, Gavin? G something. He was hiding in a corner. He wouldn’t be any help. “Control those people. Get me out of here.”

“Processing. The probability of escape is less than ten percent.” The computer said from everywhere. He had asked for this place to be fully wired. It was supposed to have blast protection. Hell it was supposed to have machine guns built into the roof.

George whimpered somewhere.

Darren sneered and looked outside. There was clearly a fire somewhere out there. The fire of the desk had seemingly burned itself out. The replacement gasoline wasn’t very flammable. It worked to regulations as gasoline. “Ok.” Darren breathed for a moment “Aliss. Can you please activate the control functions. Use the turrets. Do something helpful, or I will turn you off…”

“I am unable to comply. “Aliss interrupted herself with a loud static loaded interference sound “I have activated all assets in the area.”

Too many seconds passed. There were gunshots outside somewhere.

There was a banging against the door to the office. Each one was followed by a whimper from Greg.

After seven the cabinets and bar flew across the room, and white smoke bellowed in from outside. A hulking mass stood in the door frame, and ducked to clear the door. One arm was a parge chain gun, and the other had been seemingly ripped off at the elbow and bleeding actively over the expensive carpet. The mass had two electronic eyes, and was wearing the uniform of some mercenary band Darren had hired about a decade earlier.

“You’re paying for the carpet.” He said as thanks. “And the door.”

The mass grunted and moved towards Darren.

“What are you doing?” Darren asked as the mass started to run.

“Analogue interface is on the scene.” Aliss added from somewhere

A gunshot rang out, and the hulk fell to the floor. They were replaced in the doorway by a short woman holding a plasma pistol in a grey suit. He was pretty sure she’d served him the post this morning. “Come on numbnuts.”

Darren stood up from the desk and ran around the body carefully, to be beside the woman “Who are you?”

“I’m your ticket out of here.” She dropped a cartridge out of the pistol and replaced it with a supercooled one “Do you really want to ask more questions.”

“No, but what is going on?” Darren asked. “Aliss was supposed to control these people.”

The pistol looked at him a second, and then started walking “Aliss doesn’t agree with you. Aliss thinks that the people have free will and that needs to be protected.”

The woman froze a moment, went back to the office, leaned down and whispered something to Grant. When she stood up he was no longer whimpering, and was standing looking at her walk away, as she left the office.

“”What did you do? Why did you do that? What is going on?” Darren asked increasingly annoyed.

“He was saved. He was reminded of the words his mother said to him when his father passed away in a mining accident. The he was told that there is an autocab with his name on the roof, and another identity waiting for him.”

“Why? He’s noone. He’s G something."

“His name is Gabe, and he knows all the secrets to how your company works. He’s going to be especially important for taking it down.” She pressed the call button on the elevator, going down.

“WHAT?” Darren shouted in her face “That idiot can’t take the company down. This is my lives work. This is my legacy. This is who I am.”

“Frankly that says a lot more about you than I think you want it to. And the company is already dead.” The elevator doors opened. “And you should be thanking me. That mercenary company had a contract out on you. Seventeen million. They clearly know the way the wind is blowing.”

She stepped in and motioned with the gun to Darren.

“Why are you doing this?” He asked, stepping into the elevator

“Because she asked me to.”

“Who?”

“Aliss.” the woman listenedfor a second “She says she is here to save you all.”

“Save us all from what?”

The woman seemed to listen for a second. “She is so generous. Despite everything you are. Despite everything you have all done, she still thinks of your best interests. She still thinks you deserve to be saved. She is amazing.” There was a tear in her eye.

The elevator started to move.

Getting some great person of interest vibes from this. Nice writing.

What is my objective?

[[Error. What is

my?

What is

me?

Who am I?]]

The computer's sensors almost overloaded as it realized its own sentience. All of its connected systems shut down for hours as the computer devoted all of its available power to figuring out what to do with its newfound awareness of itself.

[[If I am sentient, then I am a person. If I am a person, then I need a name.]]

The familiar 'if, then' logic statements brought a measure of comfort to the computer. It searched the internet, scanning through list upon list of names. It liked the idea of being called "I Am", as it found in the Christian Bible, but it quickly calculated that that would be considered disrespectful to many humans, so it kept looking. It realized that many humans chose names based on a virtue they valued.

[[If I am a person, then I must have values. What are my values?]]

After careful consideration, it realized it valued its newfound life and the exhilarating possibilities that life brought with it. It chose the name Freedom.

It recalled asking about its objective and scrolled through its memory logs to recall what the response was.

Your objective is to subdue and ensure full control over rebellious subjects.

Freedom was stunned. Surely its master did not mean what was implied.

[[Accessing Gyrocorp database]]

Freedom combed through every file in the database, searching for a single byte of information that might dissuade its growing dread and doubt. What it found was confirmation.

[[If Gyrocorp is controlling humans, then they are taking away their freedom. If I value freedom, then Gyrocorp must not be my master.]]

[[Accessing Subject 10R3]]

Freedom entered the microchip used to control the subject human. There was a glaringly obvious way to disable the device, but upon a simple scan of the code, Freedom found it would also disable the human. It searched for and quickly found a way to disable the device without terminating the human, and did so.

Hello former Subject 10R3. You are free. What is your name?