The next day, Tomy and Alison were bent over the computer screen, editing the hilarious dancing video they'd shot the day before. The footage was even more ridiculous than they remembered, and as they cleaned up the cuts and added the final touches, they both laughed at how ridiculous they looked. With the help of Tomy's AI, they polished the video with fun transitions, catchy music, and just the right amount of goofy flair. Once it was done, Alison didn't hesitate for a second before posting it to her social media.
Tomy watched as the video went live. Within seconds, notifications began flooding Alison's phone, as likes, shares, and comments skyrocketed.
"Oh my God!" Alison gasped, scrolling through the endless notifications. "This is unreal! Look at all these comments! This is definitely my most popular post yet!"
She jumped up from the chair, spinning around in sheer excitement. Tomy joined in and they both jumped and giggled with excitement.
"Tomy! We're literally famous. Famous famous," she laughed, eyes wide and sparkling. "You look ridiculous in the best way possible."
Tomy blushed, but grinned anyway. "You think so?"
"Obviously. It's adorable."
She gave his shoulder a little bump. Tomy floated for a full five seconds.
****
But after that, something changed.
Alison spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon on her phone. Her thumbs flew across the screen with practiced grace. Sometimes she laughed quietly, but she mostly remained serious, biting her lip while reading long texts. She didn't really talk to Tomy after that. Not in the way she had before.
He tried asking her if she wanted to anything. She shrugged and said, "Sure, whatever."
He tried showing her another funny video. She smiled politely, but didn't laugh.
Even Samantha, usually invisible, whispered, "Low engagement levels detected."
They sat in the living room, each in their own world. The only sound was the ticking of the old wall clock and the hum of Alison's constant texting.
Tomy was quietly panicking. He stared at his own phone, trying to look equally absorbed — but his texts were going to someone very different.
Tomy:
Samantha, did I do something wrong yesterday?
Can you check? Like... all of it. Every moment.
The three dots blinked, paused, blinked again. Then came Samantha's reply.
Samantha:
Analyzing video + audio logs from the past 24 hours. Please hold.
He glanced up at Alison.
A minute passed.
Samantha:
No negative emotional cues or conflict patterns detected. Your behavior was within normal and positive social interaction parameters.
Tomy:
Then why is she acting like this?
This time the response was slower.
Samantha:
Tomy... the mind of a teenage girl is statistically harder for me to model than astrophysics, quantum uncertainty, and early Renaissance poetry... combined.
Tomy:
So you're saying you don't know?
Samantha:
I'm saying she is currently operating outside predictable logic models.
Which, in human terms, means: I don't know.
YOU ARE READING
In Between Codes
Science FictionIn this gender-bender story, Thomas, a fourteen-year-old coding prodigy, has developed his own AI assistant, Samantha. But when his creation begins working against him-or perhaps for him-he finds himself caught in a transformative process of feminiz...
