The Amazing Invention

Cody and Leon, two best friends had been working every weekend, at Cody’s house on a very special project in the basement. With Leon’s 3D printer, and Cody’s skills with electronics, they were designing a secure computer chip, and after many weeks they were nearly done.

“Is this chip ready to download?” Cody asked his best friend Leon one afternoon. Leon lifted his goggles with a lopsided grin, “I just inserted the final piece”

Cody shook his head “Why are you wearing those goggles anyway?”

“Simply for effect Cody, simply for effect”

“It doesn’t make you smarter” laughed Cody, again Leon grinned “I know that, but our audience won’t, when this is televised we will be famous”

Cody picked up the chip between his thumb and forefinger, looking at their masterpiece with a trained eye, “Let’s get started!” together the two friends turned to the multiple screens behind them and Cody carefully inserted the chip into the hard drive while Leon powered up the system, standing back they waited with glee for their invention to come to life on the screen.

Lights flashed as it powered up, and the monitors trilled and beeped, Leon flipped his goggles back down waiting for the ultimate test to run like a dream, Cody’s eyes got bigger with anticipation and bumped shoulders with Leon triumphantly, moments later the room went black and an explosion emitted from the screens, sparks flew and scattered the room.

The boys were knocked off their feet, momentarily dazed, Cody jumped up and turned to see Leon flat on his back, in place of the goggles Leon’s face was blackened and his hair stood on end “I don’t think that was supposed to happen Cody”

Cody didn’t look much better than his friend, and he quickly brushed back his crazy hair, but he nearly fell back again when a strange voice responded “Forgive me in my excitement I must have shut down the power grid, it will be back up momentarily”

Cody and Leon gasped in unison as the third voice took them by surprise, Leon looked around the room in unbelief “That must be your sister playing a joke on us”

“I assure you Master Leon I’m no one’s sister, I am your creation” said the third voice in the room.

Cody yelled to the top steps “Kit stop messing with the circuit breaker please, Leon and I are trying to run our new program, and we’d appreciate if you’d stop messing around, this is serious!”

“Master Cody may I say you are a genius, without you and Master Leon I would have never existed”

Cody was still on the stair when Leon beckoned him back over “Uh Cody I don’t think your sister is playing a joke, you better come look at this!”

Cody returned to the monitors frustrated all their hard work just blew up and failed, he wasn’t really paying attention to Leon, who was wordlessly pointing out the hologram in the center of the room but Cody’s mind was so preoccupied he didn’t notice anything amiss till he nearly bumped into it.

“Do be careful Master Cody, my energy field is dangerous to the human touch”

Cody stopped in his tracks just inches from the hologram, seeing for the first time what they had accidently created, the little chip they had worked so hard on, intended to help the system store memory and use it more extensively for research purposes, but somehow it had all gone haywire, and the memory chip took on a life of it’s own, and formed in the center of the room as a holographic AI.  The energy field hummed with a gentle buzz, and the AI and Cody stared at each other, while Leon stood back amazed and absentmindedly eating cheese off a nearby tray, finally Cody came to his senses accepting the solid facts in front of him “Well, uh your welcome…I guess, so what should we call you?”

 The AI smiled “That is entirely up to you my masters, I will answer to whatever you decide”

Leon still in a bit of a trance finally spoke “We could call you…Bob”

Cody just shook his head “Bob? Really Leon, this is a masterpiece and you think we should call him Bob? I think we should give him a name that stands for something, let’s see he’s an AI, what would –“  Here Leon interjected excitedly “I Know! Awesome Invention, get it? AI equals Awesome invention!”

Cody nodded “I like it, but instead of Awesome how about Amazing?”

 Leon popped more cheese in his mouth “I Like it! OK, Amazing Invention, could you tell us the weather for today?”

“Of Course Master Leon, it is Sunny out, the current temperature is seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit, and there is a mild breeze, a perfect day for a bike ride to the park” Leon’s eyes grew wide “Wow, cool! How did you know Cody and I liked to go for bike rides?”

“I am an AI sir, that is how you have programmed me”

Cody had an idea “Amazing Invention? From now on, respond with an accent please”

“I would be happy to Master Cody, initiating Aussie Accent… G’day Mates, how may I further assist you?”

Leon took another turn “Amazing invention, can you come with us?”

The AI promptly responded “Unfortunately I am stationary, but I will recalibrate your chip to add mobility, and you can bring me on your adventures, first you will need to construct a portable device, would you like me to assist you?”

Both Cody and Leon agreed happily, and set to work on another invention with the help of the AI, never in their dreams did they ever expect something so amazing to come from what they thought was yet another failure, but the explosion turned out to be something far greater than they imagined, and as they worked hard to create a portable version, they chattered about all the endless possibilities for which the AI would be most useful, and even though it was accidental success, they now had the confidence to put other inventions to the test.