Box's description stated that the Repository AI Type Zeta edition 2095 was an artificial intelligence serving as a mobile personal assistant and knowledge navigator. It provided hands- and eye-free voice control to apps and Bluetooth-enabled electric appliances and electronic accessories, and could also serve as a hologram projector. But Box knew it was much more than that to its holder, Aydin Cain. To him, it was not just a tool; it was a friend, housekeeper, masseur, and a vital companion without whom Aydin couldn't function properly anymore.
Box's inner alarm beeped.
Box cancelled it and looked at the sleeping man, at the arm pushed under the pillow and the strand of red hair peeking from under the sheet. Box was keeping track of his body functions; from his heart-rate to his blood pressure, which were displayed on its screen. It had been seven hours since Aydin had come into his multifunction room and dived into his bed, and an hour before Box was supposed to wake him up. An hour Box best used to make breakfast for its favourite human.
It enabled its anti-gravity system, which should have been, in Box's opinion, called a weight reduction system, since it artificially reduced its weight rather than defying gravity. Despite the promise of its inventors that five years down the road, the world would have floating cities, twenty years after the promise, the system still only worked on small objects or for small distances between the ground and the object.
Box started floating upwards away from its charging station. It connected itself to the room. It needed a refrigerator, stove, oven, sink, and kitchen cabinets.
The walls of the multifunction room opened and pushed out the appliances and the furniture Box needed for its famous turkey and mozzarella whole grain flour muffins.
It turned on the small thrusters on the bottom of its orb which it used for steering and flying and went to the refrigerator, pushing its wiry arms out of its metal body. It only took Box fifteen minutes to prepare the muffins and put them into the baking pan, which it put into the oven for twenty minutes. Coffee was next. It boiled the water, then poured it through the strainer it had prepared with a filter and one and a half teaspoons of coffee and set it into a cup.
"Something smells nice," a sleepy voice came from behind Box. "What time it is?"
"Six forty-seven." Its main camera moved to its back, and it looked at Aydin, who was now lying on his back, with his arm over his head. It measured his life signs again. They were all normal. "Breakfast will be ready for consumption in fifteen minutes."
"Are there any notifications?" Aydin yawned and sat up.
Box carried the cup to the shelf by the bed and set it beside its station. It opened Aydin's inbox to see eleven unread emails. Three of them were advertising, four of them were news subscriptions, one was a personal email from his mother, two were notifications about the incoming referenda, and another one was a notification about the incoming election of a new finance minister with a list of nominated candidates and their qualifications. Then it opened Aydin's calendar and looked at his working schedule, and then at the Border Police bulletin boards where it saw a pending request from this region's Commander. "Inquiry received regarding the status of a package from Mother. Confirmation of receipt is pending. Additionally, communication request logged from the Commander. Immediate response recommended."
"It's probably about the new arrival." Aydin climbed out of the bed. "Clear bed."
The bed descended into the hole that opened underneath it.
"It was going to be just another boring day today. But I'll have you to keep me company, so at least it will be bearable."
Yellow light layered Box's vision. It flew to the redhead and nestled against Aydin's side. Mark; My significance to Aydin is established. Confirmation 1563.
Aydin patted it, then moved away from it and started to perform Tibetan Rites.
The muffins were already done when Aydin finished his morning exercise. He ate them while sipping his coffee. He complimented Box on the muffins, which layered Box's screen yellow again. Then he washed and changed into the uniform of a Border Police Lieutenant-Colonel. He put on his eGlass, which was one glass rectangle attached to a headphone, then over it set a Border Police eGlass protector, a visor that looked like a hybrid between sunglasses and a helmet's visor.
"Call Commander Cajon, please."
The command was for the eGlass, not for Box, and to see the conversation, Box had to connect itself with Aydin's eGlass. When it did that, it could see a display with a view of a living room and the Commander in his armchair set on a raised platform. Despite his small build, the Commander looked like a king on his throne, ruling over his subjects. The impression, Aydin said, the Commander was going for.
"... Lee Morgan, your new team member," the Commander said.
"Yes, I read the memo," said Aydin.
"But this is not the reason why I requested you to contact me. I got a notification from headquarters. The police have discovered large amounts of drugs, too large to be trafficked into this country by mules. They believe the drugs are coming in through small customs like ours."
"You don't believe that our station could be involved, do you?" Aydin said.
"Headquarters wants me to put all of our officers under surveillance."
"I have no intention of spying on my co-workers if that's why you called me." Aydin's voice rose slightly, not enough for the Commander to notice, but Box did.
"You were a detective, so I thought, why not have you investigate?" Commander said. When Aydin didn't say anything, he added. "Just keep an eye on things."
"Anything else?"
"No, that's all."
"Yes, sir." Aydin nodded and disconnected the line. He gestured for Box to follow him and together they left the room.
Box hovered by Aydin as he crossed the steel mesh hallway and walked down the stairs. It aimed one of its side cameras at the basketball court, then back to the steel structure of the stairway attached to three rows of stacked-up multifunction rooms. Aydin's was the only one on the upper floor, and since he was a Lieutenant-Colonel, his room was bigger than the regular officers' quarters and it had a proper bathroom, not a sink and a toilet hidden in the wall.
They walked past the basketball court to the five-story high Tower that was between the living quarters and the shield wall, whose reddish electricity lit the blue sky and added a red glow to everything in its vicinity, passing an android on wheels trimming a ribbon of grass on their way. It was called a Helper, and it was one of two that oversaw maintaining the station and its surroundings.
The first floor of the tower was a garage with parked bikes and eggshell-like hovering vehicles called Units, and a workroom. It had another door at the other side of the space that opened to the Helper station overlooking the border crossing, and across the grassway was the customs warehouse. The station had four hundred Helpers, androids that took care of mundane and automatic tasks such as maintaining the buildings, cleaning, cooking, small repairs, working in the customs warehouse, and keeping watch alongside the shield, notifying the station of breaches or anything out of the ordinary. Since the southeast border was bordering on a second-world country rather than a third- or fourth-world country, and there weren't many incidents or breach attempts as was the case with the United Country of Europe's southwest border, the Helpers by the shield were there because of U.C.E.'s general safety protocols and not because their presence was necessary.
In the workshop area, Box noticed the absence of Mark, the team's engineer, who even in his free time was always tinkering with something in the right corner of the room where he had his station. Box scanned the room, looking for any abnormality, but there were none. Using an escalator ramp, they went to the first floor where Aydin's office, the kitchen, and the common rooms were located.
Two-thirds of Aydin's team were there: Mark, Linda, Suzanne, Jacob, and Greg, and a blonde-haired woman that the five of them surrounded. Adele, Simon, and Florence, who had the night shift, were in their rooms, sleeping.
Box knew who the woman was: Lee Morgan. It had looked her up in the general database two days ago after it read a notification about her arrival to replace Veronica, who left because of a better job offer a day ago. Box wrote to Aydin, 'She was supposed to come next week.'
"Hello." Aydin greeted them and then turned his eyes to Lee. "You must be Lee Morgan, our new team member." He offered her his hand. "Aydin Cain. Station Lieutenant-Colonel."
"Nice to meet you." Lee took Aydin's hand and shook it, giving him a pleasant smile.
Box lowered and pushed its arm out of its orb. "Identification: I am designated as Box, fulfilling roles as Aydin's personal assistant, housekeeper, and masseur."
The smile on Lee's face widened as she faced Box and her fingers wrapped around Box's. "Nice to meet you, too." She tilted her head and with her free hand tucked strands of her blond, jaw-length hair behind her ear. "Do you offer your services to other team members, too?"
"Negative."
"Not even when we ask nicely." Linda smiled. "It can be quite stubborn."
Box directed a beam of red light at Linda.
"And sensitive," Linda chuckled. "I'm afraid it doesn't like me too much."
"Box," Aydin said, a warning in his voice.
Box floated to Aydin, and on its way, it gave Linda another brush of its red beam before it turned it off.
They chuckled.
I am not intended for amusement, Box thought, but it didn't say that out loud, because the last time he had used this line, it made them laugh even louder. Humans could be so rude. Box was a machine, but that didn't mean it was without feelings. A red light turned on, but Box blocked it, not wanting Aydin to say its name in his nasty tone, which awoke a grey colour and a feeling of being inadequate. Box didn't like it either.
Lee commented, "I have never seen an AI behave like this."
"That's because of its personal chip. It has evolved to the point it now has human-like reactions," Aydin explained.
"It's unique," added Linda. "Truly one of a kind."
The other team members nodded in agreement, then shifted their attention back to Lee and bombed her with questions about her personal life and her previous jobs. Aydin, with his hands in his pockets, listened to their conversation for a few moments before he interrupted them, telling Lee, "When they are done with you, drop by my office."
"Yes, sir," Lee said.
Aydin gave a small nod to the group and then walked to the office in the hallway leading to the living room, which was divided from the hallway by a glass wall. Box followed him.
Aydin sat in the chair behind the desk to the right of the large window overlooking the border crossing, the grassway, and the warehouse which front started at the other side of the energy shield. Because not many Units used the crossing, there were no Unit blades to harvest the grass on the road for fuel, so the grass was already ankle-high.
Box, who was still connected with Aydin's eGlass, saw that his handler had signed into the station system and then into the Helpers' Hive. Like every day at the beginning of his shift, he looked at the camera feeds from the Helpers stationed alongside the border and in the warehouse. "Box, check the last three months' footage from the warehouse's Helpers for any irregularities."
A hint of dark redness layered Box's display. It pointed a weak red light at Aydin.
Aydin raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"
Algorithms, protocols, and even recorded human reactions in the past lead its actions and generated its emotions, but it had exceeded its programming to become something far greater. "I am a sophisticated technological device proficient in complex analyses and equations. Additionally, a personality chip has been integrated, enabling emotions. I express resentment towards being perceived solely as a machine. If you, as my handler, maintain a demeanour devoid of warmth akin to interfacing with a mere apparatus, it becomes challenging to anticipate empathetic treatment from others?"
Smiling, Aydin lifted his eyebrows even higher. "You seem to be in a bad mood today."
The red laser-like light thickened.
"I'm sorry, Box. You're right. I'm the one who installed that personality chip, and it's clear you're much more than just a set of programmed responses. I'll make sure to be more considerate of your feelings. Let's try this again," Aydin said, the smile on his face softening. "Could you please review the last three months of footage from the warehouse Helpers to check for any irregularities?"
"Affirmative." Box lowered to the desk and onto the small silicon circle that kept it from rolling over. Using Aydin's connection, it signed into the warehouse's system. It started to look through clips, watching the incoming container transporters driving onto a conveyor belt. Their sides were opened, scanned, and their documentation and the items' quality verified. Under the belt was a large, transparent tube in which smaller packages were going through a similar procedure of scanning and verifying. Another conveyor belt was beside the container one, this one for food and plants, where Helpers removed random samples and tested them for pesticides and diseases. Since the livestock was processed only at this country's main three customs, all transporters carrying them were redirected there.
A knock came and Lee entered. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, sit down." Aydin gestured to the chair before the desk.
Lee sat down.
"Have you already been acquainted with our team's schedule and how we operate?" Aydin said.
"I got the duty schedule and information about the day-to-day procedure."
Box glanced at the woman. Her file said that she was twenty-six years old, one year older than Aydin and that after she had finished her apprenticeships at the police in Poland four years ago, she had worked there before she got a position in the Border Police a year ago. Since the countries that formed the U.C.E. valued their independence, there was no common government, just a representative board in charge of trade deals with non-U.C.E. countries and unions. Even though the U.C.E. didn't have a common army or police, its members did share their resources and cooperated in cases of external threat and in protecting the U.C.E.'s outer borders. That's why Border Police officers were from all over the U.C.E. Lee's address was also listed in the file, but that was all. There were no listed hobbies, special interests, or features, as were in Aydin's file and the files of other team members. The woman had no hobbies or interests, something that Box had learned was important to humans. What did she do in her free time then?