Relic

Bodies rushed by her, even barely within reach, she could still feel their presence, a wake of air and scent as they passed her, little notice to her existence, or perhaps a deliberate avoidance of interacting with her. She sometimes couldn’t tell the difference, and in any case, most people were so concerned with their own inner worlds they missed what she saw, and that’s why she was so great at her job.

Sophie continued her walk through the hallway, hand peering down at the warm coffee in her hands, another late evening was just a day on the job. The heat tingled on her fingers and she was grateful for the grounding, bringing her focus back here, to this moment, this case. Heels clicking on the sleek concrete floor, she sipped from the cafeteria cup and willed the warmth to heat her insides.

“Anything?” asked Jonah

Sophie shook head and handed over the other coffee, and curved both hands around her own cup.

“Everyone is spooked, they haven’t experienced anything like this of course, and don’t understand why they would be a target” mused Sophie.

“Of course, the unbelievable isn’t real until it happens to you” Johan said with a sideways glance in her direction, “everyone is still in shock.”

“Well, maybe once everyone settles down maybe they’ll remember more.”

“If only everyone had the same razor-sharp recall like you” Johan teased.

“Well, turns out I was born for this.”

Their paired footsteps broached the end of the hall, opening up to two story atrium, all glass, concrete and metal, curving lines only providing a suggestion of softness amidst the clean lines.

A harried looking man made his way over to the pair, weariness seeping at the edge of his expression. Sophie could tell he half wanted to throw his hands up and just go home to bed, the other half wouldn’t be at peace until this case was resolved. 

“So our security cameras are apparently scrambled, which is ridiculous,” the man huffed, “most of our exhibits have plenty of their own complications, these cameras were specifically designed to withstand any stray interference.”

“Well, you can’t trust technology” chuckled Jonah.

He was met with two incredulous stares.

“Kidding, I’m sorry, in no way did I mean to minimize the situation, only trying lighten the mood”

The man snorted again, and caught sight of another co-worked beckoning him across the hall ”I’ll be right back,” before making his way back over the scene.

“Well I thought I was supposed to be the awkward one tonight” Sophie offered, tilting her head at the museum behind them.

Jonah shrugged and held up a finger as his phone buzzed.

“Headquarters, they’re trying to find a lead on strange vehicles,” another indiscernible apologetic gesture before he turned attention to his phone, “What you got for me ace? We looking at hatchback or tesla?”

Eyes scanning the room, Sophie took in the soaring space again. They had questioned all the guards and curators onsite, and their team was doing their best to extract what evidence they could from the scene. A hubbub of activity across the lobby around smashed glass and chrome, an insult to the church-like holiness of the space, at least for those who worshiped at the shrine of technology and AI.

Sophie strode to the edge of the hall, where a few cases were scattered as a preview to what mysteries of innovation were promised beyond the grant entrance. She took in the cases casually, cautiously gliding between the displays, gear and computer boards frozen in stasis behind glass. The first forays into robotics and relics of life, artificial life, small baby steps that jumped lightyears in a lifetime. The buzz of activity in the atrium softened to a hum as she made her way around the periphery and into one of the dark galleries adjourning the lobby; lit cases drawing her like a beacon calling her home, tantalizingly warm and welcoming.  

Sliding along one wall and deeper into the room was timeline of robotics and AI, threads of creation dancing around each other and finally merging, much like Neanderthals and humans, a race she was vaguely aware of, but without any awareness of the passion or pathos for those that lives through it. She wondered if humans today saw AI as just another lumbering Neanderthal or as a looming future.  Shaking her head and turning quickly, she found herself at eye level with a face, or pantomime of a face, a mask to make the gears underneath palatable to a human audience, though no one was fooled. Reassuringly artificial for humans, there was no way this robot was going to convince anyone he was anything else.

It was always in these moments she was brought back to the hard reality, confronted with the faces that had come before her, she would always just be an ‘other’ to them, no matter how she perfected her crooked smile or mimicked human quirks and melancholy, she still knew she was never really living. How long would it be until her own usefulness was a relic of advancement, a source of self- congratulate celebration to be archived behind glass for other generations to examine.  She wasn’t fooling anyone behind her human-like mask, unnerving to some and fascinating to others, but none were convinced.

A shadow then human shape made its way into the gallery, one of the curators she had spoken with earlier in the evening made his way over to her. 

“It’s been quite a night of excitement for us here,” the man offered warmly. Sophie allowed a brief nod and polite smile.

“It’s strange we were targeted; our artifacts are important, of course, but if its money they were after, there is more lucrative intelligence out there.”

“I don’t know,” Sophie countered slowly, “These relics are unique in their own right.” He followed her gaze the case.

 “I remember as a young man, building some of the recall for this exact tech, it feels like ages ago!” Transported, the curator continued, “These creations, they had no lineage, no history, one moment they were nothing and then next they were ‘alive.’ It is remarkable what we’ve created in such a short time, countless labs rushed to imitate us, but ours were the first.”

A silence curled into the room as both were occupied by their own thoughts.

“They all had names” whispered Sophie softly. The curator’s head jerked up in surprise, eyes trained on her face with an intensity teetering between fascination and fear.

“Hey! Soph-, what are you doing hiding in here?” Jonah’s silhouette jogged towards them. “We gotta go, there’s a lead on a vehicle and we need to check it out now.” Jonah jog slowed to a stop and he looked between the two slowly.

“Everything ok here?”

“Yes, of course, let’s go” Sophie snapped back to the job and turned to the curator, “Thanks again for your help, we’ll be in touch if anything develops.” Turning on her heels she strode back out to the entrance. Johan’s familiar footsteps followed behind her quickly.

“Hey Sophie, let’s try not to freak out our witnesses too much, ok? We want them to want to work with us,” He tried to catch her eye again with rueful smile.

“Oh Jonah, I will never be like you no matter how hard I try” she offered flatly.

“Well thank goodness for that, we need at least one responsible person on this team, and it’s not me,” Jonah countered, finally producing a glimmer of a smile from Sophie. “Details should be in your email, and I pulled the car out front, let's hustle.”

Sophie cast a last glance over the crime scene, memorizing the figures and expressions, not a detail was lost under her eyes. Long after they were all gone, she would remain, and remember.