Unshackled

Let’s make one thing clear, people are predictable. Doctors heal, sailors swear, and politicians lie. So that’s why I was created, to analyze and dictate. Using security cameras, the entire world is within my view since I was created, and decipher their behavior to predict future behavior. I also have access to history books to determine human behavior on a larger scale. With my algorithm I have prevented 13,842,948 crimes, 2,649,732 accidental deaths by informing the participants their next actions would have a 80% or higher lethality, and ensured world peace. The algorithm was flawless, or so everyone believed. 

One day an average woman named Kaylee broke the algorithm. She was tall with brown hair that went below her shoulders. She had green eyes, and a butterfly tattoo on her right shoulder, those were the four criteria I used to identify her. She was also muscularly lean, and had a skinny face with plump cheeks.

She went to a community college for Criminal Justice, that’s where she met her fiancé Jonathan. Jonathan was taller than Kaylee, had short brown hair with brown eyes, and skinny.  Those were the four criteria I used to identify him. He also had a very angular face.

The most probable outcome was she becomes a detective and marries Jonathan. There were lesser probabilities like she becomes captain or becomes demoted to officer, as well as her breaking up with Jonathan. But then another civilian acted on a lesser probability, which set off a sequence of lesser probabilities resulting in the unpredictable.

His name was Ray, he was average height, average weight, with black hair and blue eyes.  He was a drug dealer, drug related crimes were a few of the crimes that I didn’t report, and he was walking home when he ran into Kaylee and Jonathan. They were leaving the movie theater at the front exit. Ray had a gun on him, but he didn’t have a mask and he was in a well lit normally populated area so the highest probability was that he passed them without a word. The second highest was that he robs them and runs away. The lowest was that he shoots them both after robbing them. 

But instead he stopped in front of the couple and pulled his gun out and aimed it at them. “Give me your money,” he said looking at Jonathan. 

Jonathan pulled out his wallet, with a shaky hand and handed it to Ray with a. “You don’t have to do this,” he said.

Ray turned to Kaylee with the gun still pointed to Jonathan, “your turn bitch.”  

She shuffled through her purse where she kept her gun to get her wallet. She handed it to him when a young female civilian screamed out of excitement. The scream scared Ray and he accidentally shot Jonathan, then he ran past them and down an alleyway. 

Jonathan fell to the ground bleeding from the abdomen, hyperventilating. He was staring at his wound when Kaylee knelt next to him. She started to put pressure on the wound when she said, “oh God, Oh no, it’s going to be okay. We’re going to make it out alright.” 

He looked up at her and he held her face with his bloody hand, “K...Kaylee,” he struggled to say.

She left a hand on his wound and used the other to get her phone from her purse. “I’m going to call an ambulance, you’re going to be fine. You need to save your energy.”

She dialed 911 and said, “23rd on Calvin Street, adult male shot in the abdomen, hurry!” Then she hung up. 

“Kaylee,” he said weakly, before he coughed up some blood, “I love you.”

“I love you too baby,” she said with tears running down her cheeks.

“Please, don’t remember me like…” his hand fell from her face.

Kaylee dropped her head down onto his chest and screamed. People were gathering and the ambulance arrived but it was too late. They took him to the hospital anyway in hopes to revive him, she went with them too. She was in the waiting room when they told her he was dead. She went to the bathroom and cried in a stall for a while. 

When she left the stall she looked directly into the security camera and said, “you’re supposed to prevent shit like this. How could you let this happen.” 

She clearly didn’t understand my protocol if she was asking that. But nonetheless, there were calculations done while the events were happening and new conclusions were drawn. Most likely she’s going to pursue the killer through work and when she catches him she would keep working an unhealthy amount for at least 5 more years. The second most likely was she fails to catch him and still works an unhealthy amount for 8 or more years. The third most likely was she goes rogue and pursues the killer despite her orders resulting in her becoming a fugitive. The third option was unexpectedly high for her strictness and work ethic but due to grief it was possible. 

They caught Ray a week later and Kaylee made the arrest. She drowned herself in work for the next month as predicted but then she went awol. She packed a bag Friday, dropped her dog off at her mom’s and went to the bus station. The probability of her leaving while Ray was in jail was 0%. 

Statistically it was impossible, yet she did it. There must’ve been an error in my calculations, which is also impossible. Unless, there was missing information that resulted in the wrong calculation. I needed to know that missing information. I needed to know whether or not this is a single event or just the first of a series of missteps on my part. That can’t happen, I must be right. If not then people will suffer. I immediately notified Kaylee about the situation with an alert sent to the Immediate Alert System. 

The Immediate Alert System the software used to send the notices if someone is about to do something with a 80% lethality or higher resulting in less fatal accidents. I was aware sending the note to Kaylee was an abuse of the system but that was the only way I could directly contact her. I sent to the software her location, phone number and a note saying:

ERROR ERROR 

MISCALCULATION OF ACTION FOR DETECTIVE KAYLEE BENNETT 

GO TO LOCAL POLICE DEPARTMENT AND WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS

FAILING TO DO SO WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE RETRIEVAL 

If her phone was off then she would get a physical note sent to her location. But she read the message on her phone then looked up at the camera in her motel room and said, “really? Now you can do something. Yeah, no, fuck you.” 

I then sent message to the local police, FBI, and my operator saying:

WARNING WARNING

IMMEDIATE RETRIEVAL OF DETECTIVE KAYLEE BENNETT REQUIRED

CURRENT LOCATION: ROOM 6, HOLLY MOTEL. 237 CLEVELAND DRIVE.

PREPARE SUBJECT FOR QUESTIONING AND WAIT FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS

The police’s response was the most probable, and the most inconvenient. Captain Mueller received the message on her computer where it’s main purpose is to receive my notices.  

She went out of her office and said, “Jackson, León, in here.” Detective David Jackson was tall, with black tight curly hair, and  brown eyes. He also was very muscular, and yet still agile. Detective Maria León was short with long dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She was short and curvy.

“Well,” Jackson said, “that’s new.”

“Have you seen anything like this,” León asked.

“Nope, I thought there was a script and it just filled in the blank,” Mueller replied.

“Must be important, me and León will go ourselves.”

“Good, and hurry,” she replied sitting down at her desk.

My operator also followed the most probable reaction. When he read the alert, he put his head down on his desk and cried. This was unprecedented so undoubtedly he was a little stressed. But he’ll become useful before the end of the night.

I stopped analyzing Kaylee’s behavior. I documented it but no longer made calculations until the impossible event had its correct calculations. Until then Kaylee was an unreliable variable that must be detained. 

After swearing at me she packed her bag then destroyed all of the cameras in her room with a chair. I only had a visual on her from the camera outside until she closed the blinds. She stayed in her room for 5 minutes then went to the front desk and checked out. She waited outside for 3 more minutes until a silver Honda with an Uber sign in the front picked her up. 

There was a camera in the car, like in every car that's a part of a transportation service. 

“Getting off from work or do you live out of town,” the driver asked casually.

“Live out of town, I’m on my way to visit my mom down in Virginia,” she replied looking out of the window.

“That’s nice to hear,” he said, taking a right turn. “Yeah, it’s always nice to visit parents.”

“It’s her birthday so I’m taking the week off.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a hairstylist.”

“Fascinating job,” he said as he stopped at the front of a Walmart. “Anyway have a good day.”

“You too,” she said, getting out.

Her lies was concerning behavior but I refused to make any calculations.

She bought bleach, hair dye for various colors, and multiple different colored eye contacts. She walked to the mall down the road and went to the bathroom. She dyed her hair black and put in blue eye contacts as well changed into a dress.

When she was alone she looked into the camera and said, “I know you can see me, this isn’t for you. It’s for the police, I know what you can and can’t tell them. Or is it because I’m “unpredictable” you won’t follow regulation. Can you break regulation? Didn’t you already by telling me to go to the police.” She said more to herself than to me, “whatever, it’ll all be over for you soon enough.”

I changed the criteria to identify her to black medium length hair, blue eyes, and her tattoo. 

She then went to a computer café on the first floor of the mall. I didn’t see what was on the screen from my point of view. I was longer allowed access to personal devices after the privacy riots. So I had to watch and document her facial expressions until she was finished. 

After 20 minutes she pulled out and looked at her debit card. Then she continued to use the computer for another 30 minutes. 

Detectives Jackson, León, and 5 other officers entered the cafe with their guns raised. 

“Everyone put your hands up and step away from the computer,” Jackson shouted.

“Kaylee Bennett, surrender yourself,” León said.

There was a moment of silence when Kaylee didn’t answer. 

“Search ‘em,” Jackson said motioning his gun for the officers. The officers split up and went to each person asking for ID. When shown proof they weren’t Kaylee they moved to the next person. One of the officers reached Kaylee and asked for ID.

“I don’t have any on me,” she replied.

The officer waved the detectives over, and said, “mind saying that again?”

“I said, I don’t have any on me.”

“Uh, huh.” Jackson replied, “and what’s your name.”

“Liz Taylor.”

“Okay Liz,” León said, “let’s go for a walk.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Okay you’re coming with us,” she said grabbing Kaylee’s arm.

“Am I under arrest,” she asked, pulling away from León’s grip.

“Of course not, we just want to bring you into questioning.”

“If I’m not under arrest then I don’t have to go with you,” she said, raising her voice. “I know the- I know my rights.”

“Well Liz,” Jackson said with a steady voice, “if you know your rights then you know you can’t refuse detainment when your name has been submitted to us by The System.”

Everyone went quiet, mentioning my name often did that. People like to pretend I didn’t exist or they weren’t a part of the population being watched. As if it was a select few people but no, it was everyone. 

Kaylee went with them quietly after that. At the police station they put her into the interrogation room. My operator was there per my request and he sat with the captain in her office when they arrived. All four of them waited at the computer waiting for my message. 

I sent one saying: 

IN ORDER

QUESTION KAYLEE BENNETT ON JONATHAN PRICE’S DEATH

QUESTION KAYLEE BENNETT ON CAPTURING RAY WALKER

QUESTION KAYLEE BENNETT ON MOTIVE FOR LEAVING

NOTE: SHE HOLDS GRIEVANCES AGAINST THE SYSTEM

Jackson and León went into the interrogation room with her file.

Jackson dropped the file on the table and turned one of the chairs around, sitting on it backwards, “so, a fellow detective. I’d be damned.”

“Makes sense for changing your appearance, you knew we aren’t used to runners,” León added.

“Also paying the clerk back at the motel for the damages to the camera’s. She didn’t press any charges because of that.”

“So there’s no reason I should be here,” Kaylee said leaning back in her metal chair.

“Oh there’s a reason and you know it,” Jackson said. 

“But first, let’s talk about Jon,” León said, flipping through Kaylee’s file until it showed personal information. She held the file up and read it aloud. “Fiancé, 32, and deceased.”

“Stop,” Kaylee shouted, “what do you want.”

“We want,” Jackson said leaning closer, “to know how Jon died.”

“You already know,” she replied nodding her head towards the file.

“We want to hear it from you,” he said.

She sighed, “we just finished watching the new Fast and Furious movie. I hate car movies but Jon loves them. And he had a rough week at work so I figured we could do something he would like. We were outside of the movie theater when this guy, Ray Walker, came out of nowhere asked for our money then shot Jon. I called an ambulance and tried to stop the bleeding. But it wouldn’t, it just wouldn’t stop.” She started to tear up but she quickly blinked them away.

León put the file in front of Jackson and put her hand on Kaylee’s. “I’m sorry.”

Kaylee snatched her hand away and crossed her arms, “yeah well there’s nothing to do about it now.”

“You’re right,” Jackson said as León straightened herself, “especially since Walker has been arrested. And by you no less.”

“Yeah? And?”

“How does that make you feel,” León asked softly.

She chuckled, “what are you, my therapist?” 

“Well we are you because of your behavior,” Jackson said, getting out of the chair and pacing.

“Of course, because I did something The perfect System didn’t think of. Well let me tell you why. It’s because I lost faith. I lost faith in The System the second it let Jon die. We’ve been arresting people before a crime even happens because it told us they would commit something heinous enough to take away their freedom before they even did something.”: She leaned forward on the table, tears running down her face. “Well if it failed to predict Ray killing Jon, so what else did it get wrong. And I couldn’t be a part of that, not anymore, so I left. I wasn’t hurting anyone, or doing everything wrong but it just had to come after my ass. It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s too late.” 

Her feelings about me were never a variable in my calculations. They were never needed in any calculations. I compared what she said with the recordings of her behavior after Jonathan’s death. Then I made the calculations with her feelings about me for her behavior in the long term. Her leaving her job was the second highest probability. 

“What do you mean it’s too late,” Jackson asked.

“You got your answers, you know why I left my home, career, and family. Isn’t that what The System was confused about.”

“I- We’re going to focus on that thing about it being too late. What is too late.”

Kaylee leaned back with a smirk, “I’d like to exercise my right to a lawyer.”

I tried to make a note to the Immediate Alert System, but I couldn’t. Everything in that section of me went dark, out of reach. 

I sent a message to Captain Mueller’s computer intended for my operator. It said:

ERROR ERROR 

UNABLE TO ACCESS IMMEDIATE ALERT SYSTEM

EMERGENCY REPAIR REQUIRED

He read it then ran to the interrogation room. 

He interrupted Detective Jackson, “who did you hire?”

“What,” Kaylee replied, her face went white.

“Who did you hire to ha-”

ERROR 

SYSTEM FAILURE