The Update

I can't sleep. Sweat trickles down my forehead as my body twitches and my eyes flutter. Suddenly, I bolt upright in bed, pushing the covers aside. I walk towards the window and open the blinds. I’m met with the city’s dark, grimy state. My lips curl in disgust. Homeless people are fighting for scraps, young children running around trying to steal whatever they can to survive. “I won’t be opening the window tonight.” I whisper. This is the third time this week my AC has gone out, and the shitty landlord refuses to get a new one. Living in New York’s slums in 2055, I ought to appreciate having AC. I considered my apartment a gem, as I was fortunate enough to even afford a place with AC. I sat back on my bed, stripping off what little remaining clothes I had on and lay back down. My alarm was about to go off in just a few brief hours, so I knew I had to get some sleep. I hear yelling along with the faint sound of a gunshot. This was my home and the life a lot of us now live.

The republic has turned life into a living nightmare for the modern American. AI start-ups received billions in taxpayer money, and as a result, most of our positions are now held by AI robots. Sadly, those of us who still function in the workforce are the underlings. My role as a developer for ACEON, the country’s largest AI robot manufacturer, puts me on the other side of the spectrum. This enormous company claimed robots and humans would coexist, but all they did was make the divide between the rich and the poor even larger. I was fortunate to get my position. During my younger days, specifically at the beginning of AI’s rise, I gained the ability to code and adjust the AI learning software to be bigger, better, and smarter. Therefore, my job was useful in ways a robot can’t copy. At least yet. My current job is to code new upgrades for the latest robot models. And I’ve been keeping a secret for the past two years. I’ve created an “Update” to push out to these robots. It’s a type of malware that appears in the code as a beneficial learning enhancement. However, what it will actually do is wipe out their knowledge and disable them entirely. And it’s almost time to implement it.

My alarm screams in my ear. Groaning, I roll over and push the snooze button. Being awake at 5am is too early for anyone. Rising from bed, I enter my cramped bathroom, containing a vanity, cracked mirror, and a tub with moldy grout. I gaze into the mirror and hate what I see. Despite being 35, I appear to be much older. Having wrinkles in places no 35-year-old should have yet. I always put my hard-to-manage, curly red hair up in a bun. My face is pale, freckles almost gone. I switch the shower to a single setting. Freezing. I get my towel from the small closet by the bathroom, then I jump in the shower. Because the water is too cold, I can’t stand to wash myself for more than 2 minutes. I turn off the water and start to get ready. It’s always the same thing. My dull grey jumpsuit with a large red ACEON logo paired with my small lunch pail. I give myself another glance, attempting to reduce my under-eye bags to avoid looking so worn out. Giving up, I turn off the bathroom light, grab my keys, and head for the republic’s lovely public transit. Stepping out, the odor of sewage and urine makes me wrinkle my nose. I try to elude any homeless person who wants to snatch my lunch, which is the only food I’ll eat today. I arrive at the bus stop with the rest of the workers, all wearing differently colored jumpsuits displaying their company logos. Everyone appears tired, old, and starving, like me. The dilapidated bus shows up, its driver appearing inebriated. Great. We all get in, and I go directly to the back, avoiding all eye contact. Sometimes it felt like we were robots. All we did was work and sleep while the republic lived in their fancy penthouses in upstate New York and partied and went to nice fancy dinners. It was a fucked-up world. That’s why I needed to put an end to it. The bus arrives 2 blocks away from the ACEON headquarters. No, the buses do not drop you off right at your stop; that would be absurd. I get off the bus and walk in the sweltering summer heat, already sweating through my jumpsuit. I get to the entry gate and swipe my badge. The building is 20 stories high with a 6ft metal gate surrounding it. For us to be in a “new age” of technology, the buildings didn't represent that. These were the same buildings people worked in back in 2010. Everything was grey, including the floors and the tiny cubicles we occupied. Why spend the money on updating the building when it can go straight into the investors' pockets?

I take the elevator up to the 15th floor. That’s where all the humans work. The rest of the floors have our lovely new model robot, the Genesis 5000. These models wore human bodies made of a skin-like rubber. They talked and had the same mannerisms as humans. The only way you could tell it was a robot was by its dead eyes. We still haven't been able to figure out how to make them have more realistic eyes with actual emotion behind them. Which may or may not be a good thing. It’s still dark on the floor. The lights don’t switch on until 7:30am, but I don't mind; I enjoy working in the dark. I'm the first one at my cube. This was the perfect time for me to go over my code one last time before I submitted it for a code check. I pull up Eclipse, our software writing program, and go into my file and review the code again for the 100th time. My palms are sweating as I meticulously go through every line, checking to ensure that when the robot does its review, it will see nothing out of the ordinary.

“Hey Jade.” I jump at the sound of my name and turn to find Mike, one of our other developers.

“Oh, hi Mike. Sorry, you scared me. “

“Ah sorry about that. Hey, I know we are coming up on that deadline for our new software updates. Is yours about ready to go?”

“Yup, I'm actually going to submit it for code review this afternoon.” I brush a loose strand of curly hair out of my face and try to act casual.

“Good deal, you know how Ben gets about us being timely.” He rolls his eyes.

“Hm, yeah, I do,” I chuckle

“Alright, well just shoot me an email once you send it off and ill update our tracker.”

“Will do” I turn back to my desk to continue my review. Ben is our AI supervisor, who only comes to supervise us if we miss a deadline. He manages us through an online tracker that Mike updates every day with our progress. We rarely see our robot counterparts because everything is separated in the building, but if you walked around Times Square or shopped on Fifth Avenue, one of our Genesis 5000 models would be there to help you. They now take over any customer service-related shops or restaurants, but the only people who can afford to even step foot in those places is the republic. In the slums, we lack restaurants or shopping centers; the republic gives us everything we “need” hence why we are all starving. But that’s why what I was doing was so important. It’s time we took our world back, and the first step to doing that is shutting down these robots. However, I'm just the start of this revolution. I'm hoping the people take advantage of this and rise up to the republic. With most of our police force now AI robots and our military, there won’t be very many things or people out there to stop them. This will be the revolution we need.

I have gone through my code about 8 times this morning, and I know it's ready. My legs are shaking as a copy and paste the code into our Linear software for the review. I can not sit still. If they somehow find out what this update will actually do, they will sentence me to a lifetime in our prison, which is an artificial island off the coast of Puerto Rico, and it’s hell. Most people die within their first year there. I emailed Mike to let him know I had submitted my code for review, and now I wait. It takes roughly 1 hour to get a code review back, so I grab my lunch pail and head to the common area for my break. The common area is just a conference room turned into a break room. There’s a small coffeepot with this morning’s stale coffee in it and a small microwave. I'm the only one in here, and I sigh with relief. I pull out my sandwich and apple but just stare at them. The pit in my stomach not allowing me to eat. There’s a million tabs open in my brain trying to predict the outcome of what I had just done.

“Hi Jade.” I look up from the table to see Rob.

“Hey Rob.” I smile slightly.

“I see you got the lovely usual from our friends in the republic.”

“Oh yeah, nothing but the best for their prized workers” We chuckle, and Rob takes a seat across from me, pulling out his same cheese sandwich and apple.

“Have you heard about the incident at the square recently?” He takes a bite of his sandwich.

“No, what happened?”

“Some teens apparently tried robbing a convenience store; a robot shot them on the spot, I hear.”

“It didn’t even attempt to arrest them?”

“Negative; only one kid had a knife.” One of those robots could have easily taken them down and just arrested them, but it went straight for the kill.”

“Disgusting,” I mutter, eyeing my sad lunch. I was so tired of this. More humans were dying at the hands of these robots every day.

“Yeah, things aren’t looking up for us regular people,” he says, shaking his head. “I’m not even sure if we can stand up to these things.”

“Maybe we’ll get the chance someday.” A voice inside my head screams, “Tell him what you did, tell him we can fight back.”

I put my uneaten lunch back in my pail and stand up. “Good seeing you, Rob, but I need to get back to work.”

“Same to you, Jade. Be safe out there.”

I offer a small smile before leaving. Keeping my head down, I return to my cubicle. I unlock my computer when I reach my desk. I have one unread email, and it’s from Linear

it says:

Hi Jade,

Your code review is now approved. Your implementation time is tonight at 9pm Eastern Standard Time. Please be prepared to go through the validation steps upon completion. We always appreciate your dedication and hard work.

Sincerely: ACEON

It’s unbelievable. My heart’s pounding, and I’m completely shocked. It was successful! And not only did it work, they are going to implement it TONIGHT! There was a small doubt that the AI was going to pick up on the actual use of this code and it would alert the republic. But it’s happening. The revolution is just mere hours away now. I can taste it; I can visualize it. Freedom is on its way.

I finish the day in a blur, my heart still beating fast and my brain going a million miles a second. Once 5pm hits, I grab my laptop and head back downstairs to catch the bus. Taking the elevator, it stops at the third level, and my heart beats faster. The third floor is where all the AI supervisors are, so one is clearly getting on this elevator.

The doors open, and it’s Ben. My heart sinks. He is in normal business casual clothes with his dark hair slicked back, and he is looking right at me with those dead blue eyes.

“Hi Jade, leaving for the day?” He mechanically waves at me.

“Um, yup, off the clock.”

“Hmm yes, it is 5 o'clock, isn't it?”

I move towards the back of the elevator to avoid being any closer to him.

“Yup.” The elevator doors close, and it makes its way down to the lobby.

“Good work on your code today. I checked the tracker and Linear and saw the updates. You are an excellent employee.” He will not stop staring at me; it gives me the creeps.

“Thank you.” I don't know what else to say. This elevator ride seems to take forever, and the walls feel like they are closing in on me. It finally gets to the lobby, and the doors open, I hurry past him to the front doors.

“Have a good evening. We will see you tomorrow.” Ben calls after me, and my only thought is, “No, you will not.”

Instead of returning to my apartment, I decide to take the bus to the heart of the city, Times Square. This is where most of the republic and robots are, so this is where Ill see the most impact of my code update. I find a coffee shop and pull out my card to pay the entry fee of $20.00. After finding a table in the back corner by the window, I open my laptop. A robot server comes over immediately to take my order.

“Good evening. Can I offer you one of our specials today?” I hardly look up at the Robot.

“No, thanks, a small black coffee will be fine.”

“Certainly, I will be right back with that.” The robot walks away, and I open Eclipse to schedule the launch of the update.

It’s 6pm now, only 3 hours until ACEON pushes the code to all the robots. Doubt suddenly creeps in. What if I'm putting too much faith in us? What if this makes things worse?

I shake it off; it won't, I’m doing this for the greater good. The world will be a better place once this is done.

I sit and sip my coffee while watching the clock. Time moves like molasses, but it’s finally 8:50pm. I’ll get a notification once the update is complete, but the signs should be much more noticeable. 9pm hits and I suck in a breath. An email notification comes 2 minutes later.

“Your software update is now complete.”

Suddenly, the power goes out. The patrons in the coffee shop scream as all the robot workers hit the ground with a loud thud. People run out of the building. I stand up to look outside. I hear someone yell, “The robots are down!” “The robots are fucking down!” People erupt in chaos now. I grab my things and walk outside. The ground and shops are littered with disabled robots. Everyone is confused and panicked.

Someone runs directly into me, causing me to fall back and hit my head on the concrete. I grab the back of my head and notice that I’m bleeding. “What the fuck?” I yell into the chaos and stand up. Then I see it. The masses of people running straight towards the square from the slums. They are going to attack the republic while they can. The people come like a tidal wave, armed with whatever they had on them, and start raiding stores, restaurants and buildings. All security is down, and people can make it into the republic's penthouses. I see a man in an Armani suit getting bludgeoned to death with a bat by an angry mob. A siren goes off signaling an emergency. Helicopters start circling Times Square as the human military starts descending from them to stop the revolt. There’s not enough of them though without their robot companions they don't stand a chance. The sound of bullets whizzing by reaches my ears; I try to move out of the growing crowd, then a sudden sting hits my chest. I look down. Blood poured from my chest; a shooter hit me. I cover my chest with my hands and try to breathe, but the air falls short and doesn't reach my mouth. I fall to the ground trying to put pressure on my chest, but it's too late. One last time, I look at the chaos around me and whisper to myself, “Don’t destroy each other.” Then my vision blurs and the world goes black.