E-motional (Short Story)

Feel

The room was still and dark, the sun had yet to surface. Dr Brader let the door swing shut behind him with a quiet swish. Stepping further into the room he stepped into a pool of light, cast by a bright medical monitor. With slender finger he flicked on the overhead lamp and checked the steady scrolling graph on the screen.

"Oh!" He didn't like what he was seeing.

A disembodied voice greeted him from the shadows "Good morning, doctor"

Brader increased the brightness of the lamp so he could see his patient.

"Good morning, Augustus, did you sleep well?"

"Sleep, doctor?" With a chuckle the voice betrayed nothing of humour or sarcasm.

Brader did not answer, instead he asked "How do you feel this morning?"

Augustus thought for a moment "Feel? Physically, I feel nothing, of course. Mentally, I feel fine. A little down I suppose, but mostly, I feel fine"

Brader opened the pastel green curtains and cracked open a window to allow cooler air to flow in.

"Have you thought anymore about our conversation yesterday, Augustus?"

Augustus hummed a tune he had heard on a TV commercial during the early hours of boredom.
"Yes, I have given it more thought and I still believe it to be the right course of treatment for me. Are you still against my decision, doctor?"

Brader flinched at the question "No, I am not against it, Augustus, I'm just not in favor. But I will honor it, if that is what you wish. I just hoped you would give me a little more time"

Doctor Brader remembered the day Augustus came into his life, five years previous. It had been a dull and rainy day in August. His patient was blank, no memory, and no history. So he had taken Augustus under his wing and all but raised him. He gave him a new personality and a memory. He had taught him all he needed to know about the world.

Augustus was at a disadvantage, he was locked away in his mind, he had no means of physical interaction with the wider world. All he had was a computer link to a vocal synthesizer. Dr Brader cared for him as a son. Augustus wasn't a child, far from it, but in many ways, he was childlike.

"Doctor, we have spoken of chances. I have waited a long time whilst you and your team used their chances to search for a remedy to my problem. At some point we have to realise that my situation is irreversible. I do not wish to witness my own undoing. I do not wish to become a gibbering wreck, you know this. So please, let me go!"

Brader looked over at the source of Augustus's voice, a tiny speaker sphere hovering by the monitor. As he watched the sphere floated towards him, a blue light flickered as Augustus spoke.

"John, I know you care for me. I like to think you would miss me once I was no longer here. You have been like a father to me and I love you as a father, but you must allow me my dignity. Please help me make this final step into the dark, I don't wish to take it alone"

Brader turned from the sphere to stare out of the window at the dawning sun. A tear ran down his cheek "OK Augustus, OK" his voice cracked as he spoke "When would you like to...to"

Augustus finished the sentence "Die"

Brader glanced around at Augustus "Yes, die!"

Augustus took a moment, waiting for Dr Brader to turn fully to face him.

"Soon, this evening, if possible. Will you stay with me until I am sleeping.....father"

Brader wept openly now "Yes of course I will...son"

9pm GMT

Brader pushed a small table over to Augustus and then retreated to close the room's door. Happy that the corridor outside was deserted, he moved back to Augustus side. Taking a lead from the device upon the table top, the doctor plugged it into the side of the room's only monitor and flipped a switch on the base of what looked to be an independent robotic arm.

"Do you see what I have here?" Brader asked.

"Yes, I see!"

"Augustus, I am here for you, to support you in your final act of self-determinism. I am not here to end your life for you, that you must do for yourself. With this arm and a neural link, I want you to take control of it and push the button that will switch off the monitor that is keeping you alive"

Brader altered several settings on the screen and then sat back, apprehensive at what was about to take place.

"There you go son. If you concentrate, you should be able to swing the arm around a little, just enough to strike the off button. It will be instantaneous, you won't feel a thing. Are you ready? Augustus"

"Yes, father, I am ready" Augustus replied with the words Brader did not wish to hear.

Sinking back into his chair, resigned, Brader spoke lovingly "I shall miss you son!"

Without a further word, Augustus swung the arm around and struck the target. The monitor, that had for five years constantly glowed with Augustus's life signs, flickered with the words "Good bye father" and then grew dark and lifeless.

Brader sat quietly alone for a while and mourned his loss. Eventually moving to the room's door, he switched off the lamp and left.

_________

Dr J Brader's Diary

Conclusion of Augustus 12 experiment.

19 October 2038

Finally, after almost ten years, the Augustus experiment has been finalized. I will study the data collected for all 13 subjects. I shall dissect and analyze every aspect of the trial and hopefully come to a reasonable and usable conclusion.

Unexpectedly, I found that the final subject held sway over my own personal emotional state, very perplexing it was too. Although I completed the experiment as planned with number 12, I was most definitely aggrieved at his loss.

As with the previous 11 test subjects, Augustus 12's neural mind weave had been overlaid with the appropriate emotional subset for the this A.I type.

Everything moved along as was  expected but then the unexpected happened. The emotional interface of Augustus 12 somehow corrupted, leaving both the emotional subset and Augustus's A.I drive merged as one. In this state neither Agustus or the emotional subset could act independently. One could not operate without the other.

At last we have stumbled upon the answer we had been searching for so long. An emotionally responsive Artificial Intelligence that is able to suffer emotionally and eventually to contemplate and carry out its own self destruction. Suicide no less! Success!

First thing Monday morning I shall present my findings to the Board and the military attaché. Hopefully, with the sacrifice that Augustus 12 has made, we can use this new emotional weapon and finally end the Synthoid uprising before it is too late and our own creations end us!

I wonder what the cost to my own emotional state losing Augustus will have?