Myth Gods Tech - Omnibus Edition: Science Fiction Meets Greek Mythology In The God Complex Universe (49 page)

“
Blasted computers,” Scrooge said but sat back and
waited.

The
avatar said, “Rendering complete. Please observe through the
right-side window.”

Scrooge
did. He could see a bright blue graphic, superimposed over the
actual view to his house. He realised that the window was some sort
of translucent projection surface, showing a rendering over what
could be seen normally. He saw the outline of a person, and some
lines, a wireframe machine view of the walls and the stairs. It was
as if you could see inside the house. Now that was a disconcerting
thought. Scrooge squinted and saw a person in the projection, where
his living room would be.

He was
rattled. “Is this a thief in my house? Why don’t you say so then!
Let me out.”

The
avatar said, “What you are seeing is an aggregated possibility of a
future moment in time.”

“
You are showing me the future? Bah! Another marketing ploy of
yours?” Scrooge snorted but he couldn’t keep his eyes off the
projection. The person was moving around, doing all the normal
gestures. Putting things in his pocket, donning his coat, checking
his phone, that autonomous gesture all humans had inherited these
days. It was all crystal clear.

The
other windows showed a blue car, its shape just like the one he was
in right now, pulling over and parking on the spot in front, a
straight line from the house’s entrance. It was dizzying to see
another reality over the one that was really there, but Scrooge had
just learnt how to keep track of everything that he was
shown.

But then
the blue man clasped his chest over his heart, writhed in agony and
fell on the floor slowly. He moved towards the door, pulling
himself by his arms, every step a huge victory. Scrooge found
himself cheering for the man, willing him to go on, mumbling words
of encouragement. The blue man managed to reach the door, and bend
backwards in a sickening angle to reach up the handle. He could
almost hear the blue man’s grunt, his staccato breathing, though
there was none there in the projection.

Then the
man fell on the floor, hitting his face hard on the surface. He
didn’t move anymore.

“
What is this?” Scrooge demanded through his teeth.

The
avatar chimed like it always did and said in her soothing voice,
“This is an approximate event, calculated by the data we have on
you, Mr. Scrooge. We predict you will adopt our new driverless
service as soon as we bring it out of beta, we predict through the
biometric data we have gathered since you stepped inside this
vehicle that you will have a major heart attack within 340 to 380
days from now, and we predict it will happen in a place a
driverless car will not be able to do anything to help
you.”

Scrooge
was red with anger, spiting out the words. “Your stupid car could
have done something, since it so perceptive! It could have called
an ambulance, or at least some person on the street.”

“
But it couldn’t. Since you remained within the threshold of
your residence, law dictates that the autonomous car cannot do
anything to intervene. If you were to leave the residence, for
example to stand on the pavement, the car could have alerted the
authorities and come to your aid.”

“
A human would have known it was alright to intervene!”
Scrooge yelled, surprised at himself with his fervour.

“
Precisely. A human would probably have valued the human life
more than the risk of facing trial for breaking and entering, even
if it meant being fired as a driver. We, however, are a privately
owned AI whose only priority is to improve the services
rendered.”

The
projection, and the blue man, vanished.

“
Fine, let me out. I’m done with this madness. I want to go
home and rest,” said Scrooge wearily.

The
avatar chimed once more. “The reprimanding ride is complete. There
is one more choice to make. Do you want to see one more thing from
your future?”

Scrooge
raised an eyebrow at that. He was furious at the machine, tired
from all the moving about and the cold, getting sleepy by the
minute and too shaken up from everything to debate the blasted
machine. But, there is one thing every man is curious of, even if
he claims he doesn’t believe in silly stuff like horoscopes and
coffee-reading. His future.

We might
as well, I’m already dressed and sitting in the car Scrooge
thought.

“
Yes,” he said.

The car
took off once more, to show him, as it claimed, one last
thing.

They
reached a cemetery. Like all cemeteries, it was spooky at night.
The small car took him inside up to the point where it was
possible.

The
avatar chimed. “This is the predicted plot of land the Municipality
of Athens will bestow for you.” A blue outline projected in the
window, aligning with his eyes to show him the precise rectangle
where he would be buried.

“
But you don’t know that,” Scrooge whispered.

“
It is an estimate. Predicting that you’ll leave no money for
your funeral, and that nobody will pay for your burial, this is
where the city will place you.”

A
rendering of a tombstone appeared at the top of the blue rectangle.
It was a tombstone, simple and clean cut just like the ones next to
it, but this one bore his name on it.

Scrooge
looked at it, a mask of horror on his face. It was just a ghostly
image on a window, but what more would he be himself when he was
gone?

He felt
tired, but couldn’t pry his eyes off his grave.

The
avatar said, “We can take you to your residence now.”

“
Yes,” Scrooge said, his throat dry. “Take me home
please.”

Stave
Five

Scrooge had
slept in an instant, snoring heavily. He had nightmares that
night.

When he
woke up, he felt rested. Renewed.

Why,
what a lovely morning, he thought, and opened the window to let the
sun in. It was still wintertime but it was a dash warm. He smiled
and stretched and took in the fresh air.

His
neighbour saw him from next door. “Merry Christmas!” Scrooge
bellowed at him. The neighbour was surprised and closed his window
shut in fear.

Scrooge
looked around. “Such a gloomy house. I better get some
decorations,” he said to himself and made coffee to start his
day.

Outside
his cousin’s door, he rang the bell and waited. As soon as he
opened it, Scrooge hugged his cousin, or at least tried to get his
arms around the big man, and said, “Merry Christmas dear
cousin!”

The
cousin was surprised but hugged him back. “Scrooge? What are you
doing here?”

“
Why I’m here for the Christmas dinner!” he replied with a
smile.

“
That’s- Wow! Thats great. It’s still early though, I need to
get some things.”

“
Excellent! Let’s go together. We can buy some sweets and
chocolates for the kids at the hospital as well. Get that big red
sack of yours, we need to fill it up,” Scrooge said, slapping the
big man’s belly.

The
cousin was surprised. “Why, right away!”

Scrooge
shoved the wine he was carrying to his hands and asked, “Can I use
your computer to read my emails?”

“
Of course.”

Scrooge
found the expense receipt Clara was filing every year, and located
her health insurance and the office’s number. He got on his
web-banking account, sent a wire transfer paid to her name and sent
an email in which he personally guaranteed that the further
payments would be covered with no delays.

Then he
went off with his cousin to buy a bagful of sweets and
chocolates.

The
dinner was lovely, and Scrooge met his cousin’s wife for the first
time in so many years despite them staying three whole blocks away.
She was a good cook, a delightful company and a wonderful
hostess.

When the
afternoon came, and the day gave way to night, his cousin asked,
“Hey, do you want to come with me to the hospital? Give away
sweets? Make kids happy?”

“
I have something I’ve been avoiding for too long. You go,
I’ll see you tomorrow after work,” Scrooge said in
apology.

The
cousin studied his face. “I see. I get it, one step at a time.
Don’t get too happy all at once and make your tummy hurt! Ho ho ho.
I’m off.”

Scrooge
went to his office. He used the Supertaxi service of course, like
he always did. He was delighted to find that he was unbanned from
the service. He even made smalltalk with the cabbie, and then gave
him a 5 star rating!

There’s
a first time for everything.

He
unlocked his office, walked in like he always did, straight to his
desk but then he took a few steps back. He looked at the Christmas
LED lights and thought about it for a minute. Then he turned them
on, looked around the place that was blinking colourfully and went
on as usual. He turned on his computer and found the book Marco had
left for him in his drawer.

He located the update instructions again, and went through
them carefully. When he was done, the computer was showing a long
progress bar. The update to his, no, to
their
accounting service was being
applied at that moment. He made himself a cup of tea and sat down
on his chair, reading the book his dear old partner had left for
him.

When he
was done reading, the service had been updated as well. Scrooge
tried it out, it was nice and smooth, felt modern and was easy to
navigate. Marco had come through, once more. The upgrade would
demand a bit more in server cost, but he could negate that by
finding 7 new customers. Scrooge had done the balance sheet already
in his mind.

He
called Clara on her cellphone and cleared his throat.

“
Yes Mr. Scrooge? Merry Christmas Sir, how are
you?”

“
I’m fine,” he said spitting out the words, with his usual
bleak tone of voice. “I’m here at the office right now, and you
know what I see?”

“
Sir, if you wanted me to come to work I’d be there, but it’s
a day off! It’s Christmas Day sir…” Clara began explaining
herself.

“
You know what I see? I see an office, worn and broken down.
An office kept in excellent condition by my assistant, who is doing
more than her job description requires her to.”

Clara
hadn’t caught it, so she was still defending herself wearily. “Yes
Sir, glad to do all those things. My job is very important to me, I
need it. Just tell me what else you need me to do and I’ll do it,
no problem.”

“
What I need you to do is to stop being my
assistant-”

“
Mr. Scrooge please, I need this job. My son, he needs those
expensive treatments, I can’t possibly-” She was practically
sobbing now.

“
-And become my business partner. Heck, you pretty much do
more than me around here anyways.”

There
was a pause. All Scrooge could hear was her breathing.

“
A partner?” she said in a whisper.

“
Yes. Fifty-fifty. This isn’t a charity on my behalf, you’ll
get more in salary but you will be taking on the equivalent amount
of risk. Also, we’ll need to get seven more clients at once, I have
completed the upgrade and our monthly costs have increased. You can
run the heater as much as you like, since you’ll be paying for it
out of your pocket too. What else? Oh, I’ve found some unpaid
health insurance bills lying around here. We can’t have that. I
sent a wire transfer to take care of them out of the common
fund.”

“
Thank you, Mr. Scroo- Sorry. I’m terribly sorry for calling
you that,” she said sniffing her nose.

“
It’s fine, I’m getting quite fond of the name,” Scrooge said,
thumping the old book under his palm. The pages felt nice. “We’ll
have to get a contract and everything of course, but for what it’s
worth, just say you agree and we are partners from now
on.”

“
I agree,” she said quick and excited, as if the opportunity
could vanish away in an instant if she took too long. She was
laughing out loud. “I’ll be there tomorrow, early in the
morning.”

“
What do I care?” Scrooge said in mock strictness. “It’s your
company too. Sink or swim, it’s up to both of us equally. Oh and
Clara?”

“
Yes Mr. Scrooge?”

“
Merry Christmas.”

The End

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