His Turn to Disappear

Year 2097

Theo woke up to the blazing rays of the moon. A lot had changed in the future. The moon had taken the sun's place as it disappeared. Water became limited to the people who could afford to buy it. Air masks were developed for people to breathe and trees were now made of plastic.

Theo woke up to the sound of his mother’s robot. His mother was always working in her office and her robot had taken her place as Theo’s mother in his house. Of course, Theo didn’t like this. He never liked the present he was living in. He wondered how his great-grandpa Bee used to live his life. Grandpa Bee used to tell Theo, “The trees in our time were hard and thick and so enormous, it made sense to set up little houses called tree-houses on it. Oh! What shade they provided. Now it’s just plastic floating in the air.”

Theo went ahead and sprayed deodorant on his body because water was a luxury his family could afford only once a week. He sat on his bed and waited for his class to start. His computer was his teacher. His guru. Turning on the emotionless machine, he called out “Theo Keller, present.” This command directed the computer to start teaching. As his sessions started and proceeded, Theo looked out the window and began thinking, “Will things ever get better?’’ And that’s when he heard it.

His computer was whirring. Making sounds that it hadn’t ever. It terrified Theo. As he started to panic, the room suddenly went silent. Nothing. Not a single sound in the room. The computer shut down and rebooted. A black screen displayed on the desktop with words that shook the ground beneath him.

‘No Theo. Things will not get better.’

What was happening? How had the computer heard his thoughts? Theo backed away from the computer and switched it off. He went into the bathroom and washed his face and made sure that what he had seen was not just his mind playing tricks on him. He made his way back in the room and commanded his computer to switch on. Terror filled his eyes as they widened with shock on reading the words in front of him.

‘My Theo. You and I are the same. We are one entity. Your thoughts are mine. Just as mine are yours.’

His heart trembled in fear. We are one entity? Theo thought that all of this was a prank. Maybe his mother had set this as some sort of joke. He had always talked to her about his dislike for machines and his suspicions that maybe one day machines would turn against their makers.

Yes. That is what it was.

At least that was what Theo thought.

“No Theo, machines have not turned against their makers. And this is not a prank set by your mother.’’ Theo was left aghast at the sound coming from the computer. It had a voice now.

“Go away! Why are you doing this to me?!’’

“Oh Theo! This is just to change your views of the world. You see, the generation of your Grandpa Bee didn’t allow my kind to exist because of people like you. I am going to make sure nothing of that sort ever happens again.’’

Grandpa Bee? What did he have to do with this? Theo was baffled. He could not understand what was happening. Change his views? What was the machine going on about? The computer immediately shut off as the doorbell rang.

Theo ran at the chance to call for help or someone to explain to him about what was wrong with his computer. He went ahead and opened the door and looked relieved as he saw who was standing at the door. It was Agatha.

Agatha Sommers was his one and only friend. They had known each other because they lived next door to each other. Theo trusted Agatha with his life. He trusted her more than he did his own mother.

“Why have you deleted all your social media accounts?” asked Agatha barging in.

“What are you talking about?” Theo looked at her in a state of confusion.

“Your accounts are all deleted. I was worried something happened.’’

“I haven’t deleted any of my accounts though.” Theo replied in a state of panic.

Agatha went ahead and made herself at home by sitting in Theo’s room. Theo looked at Agatha with a disoriented look. Agatha had never seen that look on Theo’s face and asked him, “What’s wrong? You look tensed.”

“Okay I might sound crazy to you but you have to believe me. Believe me when I say that my computer has turned on me.”

Theo explained everything that happened with his computer. He told Agatha about how he thought that the computer was trying to brainwash him.

Agatha listened patiently as Theo rambled on. Although the story sounded unrealistic, Agatha trusted Theo. She knew he would never lie to her. She knew he trusted her too much for him to lie to her.

“If the computer wants to brainwash you, then maybe deleting all your social media accounts are the first step. It plans to cut you off from the world. To make you…”

“…realise the importance of machines.” Theo completed Agatha’s statement. A brief moment of passion arose between them but died down as they knew that this was not right time.

Agatha suggested that Theo ask Grandpa Bee. Grandpa Bee had some or the other involvement in this situation. Agatha thought he should be the first person to know about it.

Grandpa Bee was sitting in his wheelchair and looking through the window at the filth his world had changed into. He despised the change that had occurred in the world. The stars had changed along with the nature. Hell, nature hadn’t changed rather it had been destroyed. Destroyed by humans. And he knew that doom always followed after destruction. Soon the sound of footsteps was heard and Grandpa Bee turned around to see his beloved grandson.

Theo and Agatha explained the events to Grandpa Bee. The look found on his face signified that something like this, had happened before.

“There was a young man like you. Back in my time. He feared the machines turning on humanity so tried his best to delay all the AI related projects. But when time came, no one listened to him. Soon, his existence started disappearing. He faded from the world. He got terrified and he succumbed. He fell into the machines’ trap and built this world. His worst fears came true. And he helped them come true.”

Grandpa Bee had a defeated look on his face. Theo and Agatha were nervous as well.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. The sound intensified. Everyone turned their heads to the direction of the sound. Theo’s room. The lights flickered. The electronics in the whole house flickered. Theo slowly walked towards his room and saw the green blinking light of the computer. It was out of battery. Upon letting his guard down, the computer opened and displayed on the screen:

‘Give in Theo. Or you’ll end up worse than your precious Grandpa Bee. Yes Theo. He was the man whose story you just heard. And trust me when I say this. I will finish my work with you grandfather-grandson duo.’

 “Huh?” Theo gasped as figured out that Grandpa Bee wouldn’t have known the story unless he had been the one to go through it. He ran outside to the living room and to his great displeasure found no one. Both Agatha and Grandpa Bee had disappeared.

No.

He had.