Page 16 of The Dis-Graced

“Who the HELL is that!”

“Grace appears to be angry, which in some cases, can easily be confused for sexual arousal.”

I have had enough. I leap from the couch, splashing red wine onto the pristine rug, I slip on my shoes and start walking back to the elevator.

“Grace is power-walking at a rate of five-point-two miles-per-hour,” the voice continues.

“That’s enough, ALAN. Time for you to go to bed,” Drake says from behind.

“Good night,” the voice says.

I reach the elevator and push a button, but it doesn’t respond.”

“Grace, can I have a word,” Drake says.

“Fuck, no!”

“I can understand why you’d be upset.”

“A fucking voice was narrating my goddamn life!” I snap. “What the fuck!”

“It’s ALAN, and I am now aware of how creepy he sounds. That even left me a little jarred. He’ll be modified.”

“Left YOU a little jarred? Where the fuck is the elevator.”

“If you’d like to leave, I’ll have it brought up right now.”

“Yes! I want to leave.”

“Fine then, but you’re missing out on the docuseries of the century.”

And just like that, Drake has my interest piqued.

“ALAN, or the Autonomic Learning Analyzing Network, is an AI project I’ve been working on for some time, and it was what I intended to assign you to.”

The elevator door opens, but I make no move to enter.

“AI as in artificial intelligence?” I ask.

“Yes. You’ve met the analytical part of ALAN, his ‘free thinking’ components are being kept on lockdown. The tech is just too new, and the implications are too great.”

“So, you really got this AI thing down? I mean, I hear about it in the news—”

“I am probably well past every other attempt. I’m working from code my father started developing decades ago. This is one of the greatest technological breakthroughs of all time, and it’s important that it’s done right.”

“This is…amazing. So, what is my job?”

“I’ve had him installed in my apartment, the phone I was going to give you, my phone, and my office. I was going to have you stay here to analyze him, and I was going to get to know him a little better myself. This tech is very valuable, as I’m sure you could surmise.”

“People would pay millions—”

“Billions. Trust me, they’d pay billions. I’ve installed thousands of cameras around the apartment. Some are just regular cameras, some are infrared and can detect when someone’s temperature is rising, some have such high definition it can make out the pulse on your neck. You will be monitored in a way you’ve never been before if you choose to stay on with this assignment.”

“Oh, wow—ummm…wow.”

I stumble on my words as I struggle to process what he’s telling me. This whole time I had assumed he was being borderline irrational with his demands, but now I completely understand. ALAN is a BIG deal, and the fact that he’s making me privy to his existence and giving me a chance to work with it is going to turn my luck around.

“I was going to introduce you earlier, but Devon barged in. I hope now you can see why I’ve acted the way I have. A lot is riding on this tech.”