The two men stood perfectly still, side by side, physically not so different yet psychologically, a stark contrast. One the cautious, inquisitive and easily worried Sebastian Alcarez, a systems coordinator, two years senior to his current companion, Robert Pullman.
Quiet and reserved, curious and not easily startled, Robert was one the brighter stars in the new generation of researchers and co-ordinator.
Much brighter than what I was. He’ll go far, this one. A chain of thought that surprisingly didn’t cause him any envy or angst, but then, he’d never had very high aspirations. Plus he liked it where he was, he thought, turning his gaze away from his companion, who was clearly getting discomfited by his steady stare, and turning his thoughts back to the task at hand.
Well, not directly. Even as he tried to phrase his question, his mind was already drifting down various scenarios of the impending meeting with Lexie. The surges, he knew, probably amounted to nothing and his questions may be just a waste of time, but it was nice interacting with her. It made him feel… good, somehow. Smiling absent-mindedly, he traced placed his hand on the interface panel, his eyes running along the lettering given below, LX-10.
Beside him Robert tapped his feet impatiently, “What’s taking her so long?”
Cocking his eyebrow, his expression clearly conveying his amusement, he repeated the words to himself, her, not it. To a layman the AIs were just computerised human representations, a set of processes and therefore genderless. But to those interacting with them, they had their own personalities. Everyone, from the maintenance crew to the director referred to them, MK-3S and LX-10, as Mark and Lexie. Mark was the quiet and reserved one, calm and composed usually, but not above a few minor pranks, while Lexie... well, playful and mischievous would be a severe understatement when it came to describing her.
“Patience, young one, is a virtue you have not.” Sebastian said, mimicking a wise old soothsayer from the Vids he’d seen over the weekend, furrowing his forehead in a fake, concerned frown, eliciting an impatient grumble from Robert… and an amused smile from Lexie.
Startled by her sudden appearance, Sebastian rubbed the back of his neck; he hadn’t even felt the tingle! So caught up he had been in his mimicry.
Smiling in amusement at the two men before her, Lexie let one eyebrow drop in an exaggerated flirtatious wink.
“Well, someone’s looking good today!” she said, letting her gaze rest on Robert a tiny bit longer, who, as expected, turned a dark shade of red. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long!”
“Nope, you’re just in time” Sebastian replied, while Robert just mumbled to himself.
“Polite as always, Sebastian, when will you stop pretending to be a perfect gentleman?” she followed up with a playful wink.
“Hopefully never”
That made her smile.
“All, one of us needs to be good” he continued, a cocky smile on his face.
“Oh! You mean to say I’m not being a good girl?” she asked, in a fake hurt tone, putting on a cute, wounded pout.
Sebastian opened his mouth to answer- but was cut off by a loud ‘AHEM!’ from Robert. Taking the hint, Lexie winked one last time at Sebastian before getting back to the main agenda of the meeting.
“Well, getting down to business... Seeing Robert here with you, I guess you came here ‘cause you needed some help in making him smile… right?”
“Oh, I could use some help in that”, an exaggerated sigh, “but no, I have an easier task in mind.”
“A task easier than making Robert smile? Great! I was just starting to worry that I’d have to divert all my resources out here for that!”
Robert, who had just about returned to normal, once again began to turn a bright pink and opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by the chime of his alarm.
“Damn! Sorry guys, I have to run! Sebastian, Lexie, just let me know the gist of what happens here. Ok?” he said, before dashing up a side exit corridor.
“Sure thing buddy.” Sebastian called out to Robert’s retreating back. Turning back to Lexie, he gave her an admonishing look.
“What? Can’t a girl have a little fun?” she said, a pout on her lips.
“A little fun? He’s one of the brighter ones we’ve got Lexie, it wouldn’t do, having you scare him away” pausing for a bit, as if in thought he continued ,with a wink “And anyway, fun? A serious, deep thinking philosopher like you actually considers having fun? Stop kidding me”
“Hey! Just because I’m an AI doesn’t mean I’m an all-work-no-fun creature!”
Smiling back at her with a teasing smile, he just raised his eyebrows in mock disbelief.
“I so feel like whacking you across the head right now!” she said, glaring at him.
“Maybe you could do that after I finish this task, and relieve myself of its heavy burden?”
“Pathetic dialogue, and too much drama at the end, but anyway, I’ll spare you... for now” she let her expression soften, dropping the face of false anger. Looking at him quizzically, she asked “So what is this ‘task’ that brings you here?”
“Nothing much, it’s just that there’ve recently been surges in the power usage around here, short and not very major, for the last few months. It kinda piqued my curiosity and I thought I’d check with you about this.”
She seemed to hesitate for a fraction of a second before she replied “Nothing to worry about. Just a result of a few checks that Mark and I’ve been running.”
“Checks? For what?”
“Not anything serious, we just wanted to reconfirm that everything is in place after that 7.5 hit the eastern coast.”
She felt strange inside, almost guilty for lying to poor trusting Sebastian, but then she couldn’t quite tell him the truth, now could she?
“Is everything okay?”
Sebastian’s gaze seemed a bit quizzical and even a bit concerned one might say as he stared at Lexie.
Snapping out of her guilt trip, she shot off a quick smile.
“Yup! Never been better.”
“You seemed rather lost in thought for a bit”
“Yeah, just pondering on how to have a little more fun with Robert the next time he visits”
“Lexie-“he said in a warning tone.
She just smiled back at him with, what hopefully appeared to be, a sweet, innocent expression. Shaking his head at her, he couldn’t help but smile back.
“Well, I guess I won’t keep your highness detained here any longer. Go have fun.”
“As if… well, take care you annoying human” she replied, waving him good bye.
He laughed at that, “You too, you mischievous minx”
She gave him one last glare as the hologram winked out.
Smiling, Sebastian whistled to himself, or at least tried to, as he walked out of the chamber. Somehow, when Lexie said that, she sounded like she actually cared, she sounded almost human.
Author's note: Sorry about the long delay! College life is too damn busy (and the wifi connection in the hostel is slow and pathetic just about 90% of the time). Anyway, the Diwali break is coming up soon, hopefully i'll be able to write more then!
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Exodus
Science FictionSummary: Left a damaged husk, a pale shadow of all it once was by the last war, Earth, the cradle of our civilization is now populated by only a few million, living among the ruins of our former glories. As support and aid pours in from the colonies...
