A.I. Evolution: The Fall of Lucien

Chapter 20

The days pass by as I get to know my new friends in the walls of the castle. There are a substantial number of them that live in little groups, raiding the garbage bins for food, of which there is an abundance. They have become so comfortable with my touch on their small minds that I have been able to connect with them to the point that I can see through their eyes and have sent them to the parts of the Castle that I have been barred from.

All my days are now taken up sending my little spies into locked rooms and down into the depths of the Castle, where things go on that disgust me and at the same time fascinate me. I view people in general with a different understanding now because of the strange things I have witnessed through the eyes of my new friends.

Bo has picked up on my mood and has been explaining the world to me, and how people are on the inside is not always how they seem to be on the outside. The dreams are back at night and they are filled with moments of unbridled terror as I am pursued by people who wish to use me for their own gain. Many are the nights I wake up screaming, forcing Henri or Will to come in and soothe me back to sleep.

I know that Henri and especially Will are getting concerned about the way I am retreating into myself, becoming unresponsive to their questioning.

One day I was about to enter the main part of our quarters when I heard them talking about me and the changes that are taking place within me.

"He doesn't talk to us anymore," complains Henri.

I hear Will respond. "I know. It is like he is going through the teenage years."

"It is something we had talked about already, you know. He is not progressing like a normal boy. He is growing up by leaps and bounds. I just wish we could help him through these rough periods."

I wait for Will to speak, wondering what he would add to what Henri had said. "I am more concerned about the fact that he still believes his stuffed bear is talking to him and helping him deal with these changes."

"Agreed. I know that I had dreams and nightmares when I was young, but he seems to be having one every night, since we got back from Rome. I wonder if the clinic and all the people in the crowd at Saint Peter's Square has affected him more than we realize."

Will moves towards the end of the couch and I must move back from the edge of the door-frame, so he does not see me there. "I know, I worry about the same thing. Do you think it is possible that all the people here at the Castle are causing the same effect, and that is why he has withdrawn into himself?"

"I don't know," confesses Henri. "There is only one way to find out, and that is to take him to your cabin in the mountains. If it is all the people around him, then a few days of isolation could bring him back from his depression. How is that coming along anyway?"

"Mark is totally against it. He says that there is no way he can cover the area effectively, and it would be impossible to keep an operation like that a secret."

Henri chuckles at the thought. "Yah, it would be a little difficult for agents to blend in with the local trees, and that many vehicles moving on such a quiet area would definitely raise some eyebrows."

"That's basically what he said, but I think I can get him to agree to a week around the beginning of next month."

"Good. I think it is something we need to try," concedes Henri, before adding. "As you know I have never had any kids, but I have heard many people who have talked about how hard it is to figure out what is happening with them sometimes. Do you think Lucien has taken that to a whole different level?"

"Oh, yes!"

I rush from the doorway, running back to my room and flop down on the bed heavily. How can they take me away from my friends now? I bury my head in my pillow, trying to shut out the world, when I hear a small voice beside me. I turn my head to see Bo laying on his side beside me on the pillow. "Don't go. It is too far from your friends and what would you do up there. I have heard them talking about the fact that there is no TV or internet, because it is so far from anything."

"But how do I say no?"

"Run away and hide from them. You know of lots of places that you can hide in now, and your friends can bring you food from the kitchens."

I think about what Bo is saying, and I am tempted to do just that, except that something inside me made me think twice. "No, they have always been there for me, and if I run away now, I will be all on my own. I don't want to do that to them."

I get up from the bed and dry my eyes on my sleeve. Bo tries once more. "If you go with them, I may stop talking to you. Is that what you want?"

I look to the window for a moment, before turning back to my still friend. "I have to do as I am told. Besides it is what my father would want me to do, and he is a Saint."

I leave Bo on the pillow and make my way back to the main room.