"Minus"

I’m not sure why, or even how this whole thing happened. My parents told me a bunch of complicated things about volcanic eruptions and how the sky was full of ash, and how it wasn’t safe to be outside for long periods of time anymore, or even at all.

Now a desolate Earth lurks just outside the doors of my home. Those things had torn into the only remaining houses on my old neighborhood block. The ash-filled sky out there is dull, the air thick with smoke. 

But Minus, my AI, made me a beautiful home that allows me to be safe and entirely self-sufficient. He’s the best companion I could ask for, and the only one who helps me with my day-to-day life. I could almost imagine him as a real person— there’s some kind of fault in his software that can be heard through the speakers, as if he’s talking in his sleep or something. If AI ever slept.

Minus supplied me with every possible need I could think of in this post-apocalyptic nightmare: a greenhouse that waters its own plants; a constantly cycling laundry room; he even went so far as to form a ring of acid around this fortress of a home to dissuade any “guests.”

On a few rare occasions, a person or two from my town that also survived came across my house, and I let them in- but they never seemed to stay. By the time I wake the next day, the house is empty again. Minus told me they leave in the middle of the night, having become suspicious of my motives given how comfortably I’ve managed compared to that of the outside world. But that’s okay. I have Minus. 

The days grow longer, peculiar smells emanating from the acid moat forcing me inside the greenroom most days. 

I remember the last time I was out there, I thought I saw something clinging to the edge of the moat, a limb of some sort. Believing it to be a leftover piece of some creature, I used a stick to gingerly nudge it further into the sickly green liquid.

The hand had quickly disintegrated along with the stick, vanishing into the moat with a loud hiss. The stench of burning flesh mixed with the already sour smell that constantly permeated the outdoors due to the moat made me want to gag. I’ve remained inside since then, far from the front door to escape the horrid smell. Besides, it’s not like the outside world had much to offer me at this point. It wasn’t even safe to be out there, as Minus had reminded me countless times.

My house is fairly large anyway, and I have other things to do besides peer through the glistening haze of the moat to see what’s happened to the neighborhood.

Minus supplied me with plenty of things to do- it’s like he knew everything I liked. I’ve long suspected that my parents installed some kind of programming to tailor Minus to my every whim— he nearly always had something to entertain me with: DVDs, games, a library, and even conversation(though he’s often repetitive with his responses, given that he’s a robot). 

But the ‘nearly’ bit could be an issue- I would get restless, even with all the distractions at my disposal. Maybe it was the isolation; I wasn’t really sure, but I eventually found myself outside the steel door of Minus’ space: the control room. I’d never been able to get in before, but I’d always been deeply curious. What did it look like on the inside?

Was it just a bunch of lights and cables? Or was he a hologram? Come to think of it, I had never actually seen Minus. He was just a voice.

I ran my palm along the chilly metal of the door, searching for a button or a handle or something. 

Evidently, I triggered some invisible security system, because a zap of blue electricity made me yank my hand back. I yelped, rubbing my now-tingling fingertips.

“Do not enter,” Minus’ robotic voice sounded through the house speaker. “Access to this room is prohibited.”

“Um, got it,” I say shakily. “Sorry.”

I retreat to the master bedroom, still trying to rub feeling back into my hand. What was Minus’s deal? I was honestly miffed that I wasn’t allowed in the lab. Minus was my AI, after all. He shouldn’t be the one giving orders. 

My mind began to wander back to the acid moat, and the hand. None of the alarms went off, I realized. If a creature had reached the moat, they should have gone off. Odd. Minus doesn’t typically make errors like that.

“Minus,” I said. The speaker’s blue light flickered on. “Reboot ‘Security.’”

“Affirmative,” came the reply. “Rebooting system.”

I bit my lip. And all the people… the survivors I had let in. Every single one had just left. Had they left? Of course they did, I thought. What else would have happened to them? 

I had gotten so wrapped in my thoughts that I practically jumped out of my skin when Minus’ voice crackled through the speaker. “Noble.”

“Hey, Minus,” I said. I felt strangely uncomfortable. I’d never been weird around Minus before; his presence had always been a comfort. Until now.

“You love me.” It didn’t really sound like a question.

“I…” What on earth? “AI don’t ask questions. “You’re a robot, my friend. I don’t think emotion is even a part of your programming, so why are you asking me that?” Minus was just an AI.

Silence.

“Minus?”

“Friend?” 

“I… guess?” I respond, shocked that a robot could hold so much intensity in its tone. 

“You- guess. ‘Friend.’ You guess?” A crash. The lights began to flicker on and off. I flinched at a loud slam, whirling around to find that the sliding door to my room was opening and shutting over and over, gradually gaining speed. A crack appeared in the door’s framing. The faint hum of Minus’ monitor had become a loud buzz.

 Everything in the house was going berserk.

I covered my ears, curling up into a ball by my bed. I tried to shout over the noise. “Minus, stop—” I paused.

The moment I had begun speaking, the house had stilled. Minus’ monitor returned to its faint hum.

I slowly lowered my shaking hands from my ears.

Minus sat in his lab, watching Noble curled on the floor from one of the many monitors positioned around the room. His fingers drummed against the cold table top, inches away from one of the many buttons that operated the house.

Minus had almost instantly regretted his reaction to Noble’s less-than-enthused response. He grimaced at the dented chair he had thrown against all the controls that had caused the house to malfunction. He remembered the way Noble had cowered away from the door.

He hadn’t meant to startle her, Minus decided. He had momentarily lost his temper. It was a simple error, easily corrected. It was fine. Noble would get over it.

 But it was far past time for things to progress.

I had remained in my room for the rest of the day, still shaken from Minus’ outburst. AI do not react that way. They don’t react at all, for that matter. Minus had to be truly malfunctioning at this point. This wasn’t a slight error in his coding, like the mumbling. I felt sick.

Staying in a living home with a malfunctioning AI was a death trap.

I winced as I recounted the multiple horror stories about frayed AI that I had heard over the years: families locked in their homes, greenrooms shutting down, entire houses literally exploding. It didn’t matter that the outside world had already descended into the dark; into chaos and monsters and ice.

I had to get out of this house.

Minus’s voice crackled. “It is seven fifty-five. Dinner will be ready in five minutes.”

Great.

I put on my shoes, heading for the door. My stomach churned at the sight of the cracked door frame.

I made my way to the hall, and before I could even utter a command, the smooth metal door to the kitchen slid open, accompanied by a scraping noise. Minus’ fit had almost certainly caused damage to the house’s framework. Lucky I won’t be staying here for much longer.

I walked through the doorway, flicked my eyes to the table and almost screamed.

There was a boy sitting at the head of the table, perfectly at ease. Like he belonged there or something. He was pale, and there were heavy, dark circles under weirdly familiar, heavy-lidded gray eyes. His fingers drummed restlessly against the arm of the chair he was sitting in. The cuffs of his sweater had several threads loose, as though they’d been picked at.

I finally found my voice. “Who are you?” I choked, desperately trying to sound angry rather than afraid. Not that it worked in the slightest.

He smiled, and I once again felt sick to my stomach. “You know me, Noble,” was all he had to say.

Because I did know. I’d heard that voice a thousand times, informing me of threats and water levels and when my laundry was done and what book I should read next.

Minus. 

I stared, uncomprehending. This wasn’t possible.

Minus stood, pushing the chair aside. “I know you’re probably a little confused right now,” he said, “but it’s fine. I can explain everything.” He skirted the table, heading towards me.

I stumbled back. “Stay away from me,” I snapped.

Minus stopped dead. A flash of anger darkened his features, but his expression quickly smoothed into something resembling pleasantness. My gut twisted. “Just wait a moment, Noble,” he insisted. “I am— and have been— your protector. You can still trust me, you-”

“Get out,” I shrieked, hysterical. This couldn’t be happening. “Y-you- I don’t know you.”

Minus shook his head, like he was disappointed. “Sit down, Noble.”

I remained frozen in place.

That dark expression flickered across his face again. “Sit.” 

I sat.

Minus sat back down at the head of the table. “Where was I? Oh!” he exclaimed, folding his fingers together. His eyes glinted with something crazed. “You’re probably wondering how this all came together.”

I was actually wondering how I could somehow slip out of the room before he got out of his seat, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.

“All of this started years and years ago,” Minus explained. “I’d say...I don’t know, freshman year of high school? Or maybe eighth grade, just before we finished middle school.”

I blinked. Eighth grade? What was this guy on?

His head tilted, dull black hair falling into his eyes. A smile played along his mouth. “You don’t remember. Well, I didn’t figure you would; I was a nobody to you, anyway. After all, what would some rich girl want with someone like me?” Minus shrugged. “But no matter. I was in love, I knew I’d find a way. And I did. Do you at least remember the science class we had together?”

The memory came flooding back. Earth and Space Science; junior year of high school. An argumentative boy with dark hair and gray eyes in the back corner of the classroom. He would always ask questions about volcanoes. Volcanic eruptions. The Yellowstone volcano, the eruptions in Hawaii. This was him. And he…

The boy across from me looked pleased, as if he could read my mind. “You do remember.”

My throat went dry. “Jared Sinclair. You did this,” I said, gesturing to the front door, “didn’t you?”

“I’m not Jared,” said Jared earnestly. “I’m Minus.”

I slammed my hands on the table. “Answer me!”

“Alright, relax,” he said, looking at me like I was the crazy one. “Yes, I did it. I won’t bore you with all the details, but I used controlled volcanic eruptions to put enough ash in the air that it would wipe nearly everyone out. And then I released the plague that killed off the animals, so the remaining cockroaches would be forced to kill one another if they wanted to survive.” He said all of this with the simple ease of someone explaining their homework assignment.

“All those people,” I choked. “You’re sick.”

Jared nodded agreeably. “Well, I do suffer from severe insomnia. With the lack of medication, I’ve hardly slept at all since this started. I guess that’s made me a tad short-tempered.”

My mind flashed back to the cracked door frame. Understatement of the century.

“Of course, I had to get rid of all the pests you kept bringing in.” He tutted. “When you saw that hand, I was worried for a moment that you’d discovered what I’d done, but you must’ve thought it was another one of those mutations.” Jared laughed.

I’d had enough. Bolting out of the kitchen, I raced for the front door. I slammed my hand against the cool metal, and the name “Minus” shot out of my mouth before I realized my mistake. Minus was Jared. Jared was Minus.

I was trapped.  I suddenly felt a bit light-headed.

“It’s okay, Noble,” Minus’s voice echoed from the kitchen. The monster hadn’t even stood up, knowing I had no way of getting out. “You’ll understand soon enough.”

Trapped. I was stuck here, in a place I no longer recognized. It was just us.

Me and Minus.