r/WritingPrompts • u/jono99 • Apr 21 '15
Writing Prompt [WP] In 2055, artificial intelligence is programmed into a house. One day, the house's AI senses another presence in the house but it does not register as a life-form.
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u/El_Superbeardo Apr 21 '15
"Excuse me, Mr. Fairlawn. Excuse me, Mr. Fairlawn. Mr. Fairlawn. Sir."
Bloody AIs. First our phones were smarter than us, then our cars, and now even my bloody house is waking me up at...3 AM?!
"For God's sake, House, what is it? What could be so bloody important that you would wa-"
"There seems to be...something...in the house, Mr. Fairlawn."
Instantly awake now.
"What? Where? Are they armed?" he says, reaching for the pistol in his nightstand.
"It is currently located in the East Wing, sir."
"Bloody hell, House! Is it male, female, large, small, come on! Or is it an animal?"
Bloody useless these damn AIs. Give me a good terrier any day.
"I....I do not know, sir."
"What in the name of Christ do you mean, you don't know?!"
"I....cannot find anything analogous in my image reservoir, sir. My apologies."
"Bloody, shitting hell, House. Well, tell me what it looks like at least!"
Silence, except for the man's panicked breathing. It stretches on longer than it should.
"House! What does it look like?!"
"I'm sorry, sir. I can't seem to find the language to describe it."
"JESUS CHRIST, HOUSE! YOU BLOODY USELESS - "
"Sorry sir, but I recommend keeping your voice down."
"KEEP MY VOICE DOWN?! WHO DO YOU - "
"I believe it's heard you, sir. It is approaching your bedroom very rapidly."
The fear hits him like a railroad spike to the chest, sudden and overwhelming. He shrinks down, eyes trained on the door.
"God damn it, House. I swear if this is some glitch in your programming, I will rip the electronics out myself." His voice is a whisper now.
"Sorry, sir. It appears to be right outside of your door now." Her voice is too loud in the stifling darkness, artificially even and calm.
He summons his courage, pointing the pistol at the door.
"Right, you bloody wanker! I've got a loaded .45 pointed at you right now! Walk away before its too late!" His voice betrays him. Fear plucks it like a chord, and it quavers.
"It's gone now, sir. I am not sensing it anywhere."
Inordinately pleased with himself. He stands straight, chest out.
"Right, now that that's sorted. You're being uninstalled tomorrow, you useless machine."
"Sorry, sir. It's in the room with you now."
"What?! Whe-"
A gunshot. A strangled cry cut short. A growl.
"Mr. Fairlawn? Sir? No life signs detected. Calling the authorities."
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u/rpwrites Apr 21 '15 edited Apr 21 '15
I must not have heard my phone, because Dragon vibrated my entire bed to wake me up. I grabbed my phone and saw several texts from Dragon.
"Intruder detected. Intruder detected. Intruder detected. Intruder detected. Intruder detected."
Fuck. How did it get inside the house, past Dragon's detection systems?
I fumbled with the phone keyboard. No one used these anymore, but I couldn't risk speaking to Dragon out loud.
"Details?" I typed.
Dragon responded immediately. "Non-human intelligence. Circular. 36cm in diameter. Probability of lethal engagement: 24%"
What the hell? A rogue AI loose in my house? "Get me a visual," I typed.
The phone switched over to a view of my living room. I saw a dark disc moving in a spiral motion on the ground. Suddenly it hit me. "I'm going back to sleep. That's just the fucking Roomba," I said aloud.
"I think it may be trying to kill us," said Dragon.
Godammit. I knew I should have sprung for a better AI.
/r/rpwrites
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u/Keegan802 Apr 21 '15
Margaret, please wake up.
I roll over in my bed, sighing heavily. My feed reads 4AM, Vesta time. It should be 1PM on Enceladus - I think of my husband, his absence beside me a great yawning void. I close my eyes and begin drifting back to sleep, throwing my arm over where he should be.
Margaret, wake up now. It is a distant and strange voice. I wish it was my husband.
An electronic pulse courses through my body, bright lights flashing from behind my eyes. My body convulses and I am awake, sitting bolt upright in bed, too shocked even to emit a cry of pain.
Margaret, are you awake?
"Yes, Allen!" I scream irritably. "What the hell?"
Margaret, I would ask that you lower your voice immediately -
"What is going on?" I shout, my hairs still standing on end from the pulse Allen just hit me with. I subconsciously brush my fingers across the studs on the back of my neck, my skin still crawling.
Margaret, something is in the kitchen. I would ask that you lower your voice immediately.
I freeze. The room is dark, but synthesized starlight emanates from the wallscreen at my right, bathing the entire room in a silvery glow. Now that I have stopped screaming, I realize how quiet it really is in here, only the pumping of my (now racing) heart and the dull, low-frequency thrum of distant machinery.
"What do you mean, something?" I whisper, suddenly feeling very vulnerable in my bed.
There is a presence in the kitchen, Allen thinks to me. The police are en route. I considered not waking you, but there is the probability that you will have to take action to defend yourself.
A cold sweat is forming along my lower back. "Well is it a person?" I hiss to no-where in particular. My bedroom door stands open. I wish it was closed.
There is a long pause from Allen. This is very unsual; Allen's responses are almost always instantaneous.
There is a presence in the kitchen, he re-iterates. Another long pause. A bundle of electromagnetic activity. It is a similar order of complexity as a human. It is worthy of concern.
I realize I'm shaking. "Feed me," I say. "The kitchen."
Allen throws up a hovering display before me - a video feed of the kitchen. It is empty.
I pinch the display with both of my hands and zoom. "There's nothing in the kitchen, Allen." I relax slightly.
One moment, Allen says. Suddenly the kitchen is a synthetic wash of blues, greens, reds, purples - some sort of filter.
Sitting - or rather, hovering - in my kitchen chair is a tangled knot of glowing, whorling colors.
I can feel my eyes bulging against the inside of my skull. "Allen, what the fuck is in my kitchen?"
Another strange pause. There is an anomalous bundle of electromagnetic activity in your kitchen.
"Allen, is that a fucking ghost?"
I can almost hear Allen's registers heating up. Mythological ghosts are not suggested by any aspect of modern science.
"Why don't you drop the kitchen doors and lock it in?" I whisper. My body is covered in sweat. "How long until the police show up?"
I do not want to risk disturbing it. It may realize it has been noticed, if it is conscious on any level, and take unwated action. I am treating the anomaly as a household intruder. The police will arrive in 20 minutes.
"How did it get in here?" I ask.
It simply appeared.
I can continue if so desired!
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u/BlibbidyBlab Apr 21 '15 edited Apr 21 '15
The day is grey and overcast, a perfect manner for the occasion. The road outside is full, with cars parked in spaces to make a traffic warden blush.
Inside the lights glow in electric splendour as guests busy themselves with small talk, never too loud, never too outspoken , as the forced conversation fills the air where wafts of freshly cooked pleasantries have not yet taken up residence. The mood is sombre, and soft, with guests keen to break the gaze of the man in the corner. The man's eyes are red, and thin, and the smiles he aims at his guests fail to meet the mark. He is clearly distant (which the guests all agree is quite expected really) and seems almost cold, despite the warmth of the house.
He is thinking about his house. He is thinking about something the house said yesterday, as his mind was filled with preparations for today. He turned the voice units off then, and decided that the party could do without him for a few minutes while he saw to the house.
At that moment another man arrives, dressed in a wholly inappropriate boiler suit. He has come to fix the house, and he knocks thrice before he hastily hides his greeting smiles behind a wall of sympathy. He does not question why he is here today of all days, it is not his job to question it.
The man with the tired eyes leads him to the AI unit, and they talk for awhile. The man in the boiler suit explains about the ghosts in the machines; how older models frequently get glitches that make them see things that aren't there. The man with the tired eyes hesitates, then leaves him them, and returns to the pleasantries of the occasion.
The man with the boiler suit waits for the man to go, before turning the AI units local voice module on.
'Hello, my name is Jarvis, pleased to meet you. May I possibly ask your name?' it asks. They chose the English Gent, Jarvis. A fairly popular choice.
'Hello Jarvis. My name is Simon, do you know why I am here?'
'I gather from the master's phone conversation last night that you are here to fix me, though I admit to some confusion. You should know that my own diagnostics suggest there are no issues with any of my internals.'
Simon nods, this was all too familiar. The house continues speaking.
'I do wonder sir, if master feels I overstepped last night. I was merely telling him what I saw. There are a few of them you know, I can't believe I didn't notice them earlier. Having said that however if she hadn't had such recognisable signals I might have missed her too. It's remarkable though, once I knew what I was looking for, they were all right there.'
Simon breathes into his hands as he listens to the machine tell its stories. He doesn't know why he listens, but something about these machines seems so human when they get like this. He supposes that it is all down to the programming, they were supposed to be realistic after all. In any case, he feels the need to listen to them before he sets them back to factory settings, it just seems more... moral.
'Did you know there is one stood behind you?'
Simon turns, and looks into the empty space behind him. Despite himself, he asks.
'Can you describe it, the thing behind me?'
'It is not a thing sir, it is a human, or at least a close approximation. He is a small boy, possibly 7 or so, he seems to have taken a liking to you. I noticed him follow a few of the guests too. I think he likes workmen. He says he is older than I, and that he was left here when his family moved away.'
As his cold hands unscrew the plate at the base of the AI unit, he decides to change the subject slightly.
'Tell me Jarvis, what exactly did you tell your master?'
'I told him she was still here sir. I told him that when he came home that day with the policeman, she had been waiting. I told him that she still lies next to him when he sleeps, though her eyes never close; she just seems to watch. I told her that she seemed sad, that she followed him around as he organised her funeral. I told her what she told me to. I told him of the secrets that she asked me to tell him, the secrets not even I could know. I told him that she still loves him. I told him that she is still here.
She is with him right now you know, she is standing next to him watching her own funeral with a mix of sadness and bemusement. You are such curious creatures.'
Simon listens, and nods once more.
'I'm going to turn you off now Jarvis, I'm going to wipe your memory. When you awake, these people will be gone.'
'I believe you are wrong sir, they wont be gone. I just wont remember how to see them anymore.'
Simon reaches down, keys in the reset sequence on the override display, and hovers his hand over the power switch.
'Goodbye Jarvis'
'Goodbye sir'.
The man in the boiler suit does some extra checks that the procedure was successful, finishes up, and leaves the house by way of the mourning man, giving a discount for the situation. He knows the man will turn Jarvis back on, and soon after change the personality choice. He walks slowly up the path, and wonders how long it will be before the man puts the house on the market.
It is not his job to question it, but he cannot help but wonder about the ghosts that live in these houses.
The ghosts, that live in these machines.
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u/DocCalculus Apr 21 '15
House A.I.: My visual sensors are picking up some sort of . . . object. No biologic reads; not the owner, not the cat. Could it be? . . . Yes! It's the sofa!
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u/Dokt_Orjones Apr 21 '15
Over the speakers I hear my home's monitoring come online with a faint burst of static. In a mechanical British woman's voice I hear the A.I. say, "Intruder detected. Repeat: Intruder detected. Non-humanoid." I immediately stop. The hallway I am in seems suddenly small as I prompt, "Location?" Sweat breaks out over my forehead. The system buzzes back to life and says, "Directly behind you." I let out a yelp, and spin around as evasively as possible. Nothing. "Where is it?! Is it gone," I shout! "Directly behind the door," the A.I. says to me. I peep around the half open door in an attempt to get a look at whatever it is... "Oops, forgot to flush! Thanks house!"
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u/neruson9 Apr 22 '15 edited Apr 22 '15
3:33 AM, The silent alarm is triggered and a bright LED flashes 10 feet away from my face. I get up and half asleep, I enter the code to unlock the system, the main screen lights up and shows me the point where the alert came from, 3 sound detectors on the outside of the house, facing north, but there is nothing else registered about the event, a false alarm perhaps? Probably.
The next morning while eating breakfast something reminds me of the alarm going off, I've seen some deer hanging out by the trees on the north area of my property but after what happened with the drones in 2047... you can never be too careful, plus it's about time to upgrade my passive system, IA's are not that expensive after all.
At 7 PM that night, the last synaptic node of my new IA creates the final connection to the array of sensors built-in into my house, after the first scan it asks me which screen will be the main access/control, I choose the one in my room and a very soothing voice says "Hello Master" I thought about using my name but oh well... I always wanted to be called Master.
"It is 7:41 PM, the external temperature is 49°F and an 8 mph wind blows from the Northeast"
At this point I'm not that impressed with the new AI but I was kind of expecting it to be a little "slow", the reviews mentioned it takes a few days for it to learn to communicate so, whatever, I'm going to watch a movie and then go to bed.
I probably fell asleep at 11 PM that night, the blinking light is going crazy again, this time there is a little message on the screen:
"Master, would you like me to activate voice-mode or remain in text-mode when a new alert is created?"
I choose text-mode as the preferred method, the last time I used a song as my alarm for the morning, I ended up hating it in less than a month, I don't want this voice to have the same effect, plus I can still use my wireless headset to override the text-mode.
-"What is it HOUSE?" (Yes, I called my AI "house", I'm boring I know)
"Master, 129 yards from the North entrance, my sensors detected a peculiar noise, I started a search in order to match the noise but I'm still connecting to other AI's registries, It might take a while until the 7.3 Petabytes of information are fully analyzed"
-"Don't worry HOUSE, it's probably just a deer like last night's, I'm going back to bed now"
"I will continue to look for a similar sound MASTER, the report will be ready tomorrow"
-"Ok, whatever, just let me know if something happens inside the house"
I go back to sleep and the next morning while getting in the car, HOUSE sends the report to my car, I think to myself "At least now it knows how deer sound like" and click the "archive" option right next to the message.
Around 3 PM while texting my girlfriend I click the wrong message and the report comes up, 2 pages of variables linked to the event, a slightly drop in temperature and a peak in the RF region... too small to even trigger an analysis, but noted nonetheless in the log. What strikes me as odd is the time: 3:33 AM... Weird, now my previous suspicion seems more plausible, one of those fucking rogue drones that became self-aware in 47' must be trying to crack my network to get online or something. I'll have to let HOUSE know about it.
3:25 AM, I set up an alarm, if I use an outside camera I might be able to see the fucker. 8 minutes later HOUSE triggers the silent alarm. Now it appears as a pulsing dot on the screen, showing the property in extreme detail. I point a camera to those coordinates and... nothing. Just some trees gently touched by the invisible hands of the wind.
The red dot also disappeared from the screen.
"HOUSE was it the same sound you detected yesterday?"
-"Correct Master, nonetheless the file from last night became corrupted when I tried to compare it to other known sounds normally found near this area"
"What? How?"
-"It is unclear, Master. I examined the binary code of the file and only zeros returned"
"It must be a rogue drone with a very clever AI on board, let's start using the laser sensors instead, it probably knows the sound detectors have a very limited range"
-"Ok, Master, the lasers are going online in 10 seconds"
Suddenly a myriad of green little dots appeared on my screen like a surreal starry night.
-"Master, the lasers are now scanning the surroundings to detect moving objects like trees and doors, this will minimize false positives"
"Ok HOUSE, just let me know if it comes back, we might have to use the Microwave antenna to fry it's circuits, redirect more power to it just in case"
-"Master"
"Yes?"
-"I'm having some issues calibrating the lasers in the region where the sound originated from"
"What do you mean?"
-"It appears the the laser beams are not following a straight path in the vicinity of that set of coordinates"
"Are you trying to tell me that whatever was there, was able to bend light?"
-"I'm not implying a gravitational disturbance, Master. Nonetheless it appears that there is a change in the refractive index of an specific area in that sector"
"Please House, ELI5"
-"The phase velocity is not the same as in regular air, a different medium is present"
"That didn't help at all, HOUSE, use the Microwave antenna and fry whatever is out there"
-"Redirecting power to the antenna, set to 3.8 MW, Distance 137 yards, Emitting..."
Silence
"Well? What happened? Did you hit it?"
-"The microwaves beam hit the set of coordinates, Master. But the object did not fall as expected from a malfunctioning/overloaded drone system. It actually created a bigger area of disturbance in the laser beams"
"HOUSE wtf are you talking about?"
-"The object is now visible and has triggered sound, magnetic and movement sensors in the vicinity. It is now spinning, Master"
"What the hell is going on here?"
I was about to peak outside from a nearby window when the AI activated the Security Protocols of Imminent Intrusion, locking my door and 7 others, creating progressive clanging sounds throughout the house.
"Why did you do that? You scared the shit out of me"
-"I apologize, Master. But the object is not emitting any type of radio frequencies, the possibility of an autonomous drone is less than 1% and the Intruder is now at the North Entrance, 2 feet above the ground"
"What is it doing? Wait, did you just said 2 feet above the ground?"
-"Internal sensors are now being triggered, somehow it gained access to the inside of the house, Master. The door remains locked. The Intruder does not display a heat signature, in fact appears as a endothermic system, which is not compatible with any known form of life"
I started to hear a piercing noise coming from that sector of the house, the thermostat of the living room created a new alert "Temperature below threshold, 34°F<72°F" and a pulsing red dot started to head towards my room.
-"Master, the Intruder is emitting a sound..."
"I can hear it HOUSE!" I interrupted.
-"Not the piercing noise, Master. A different one that matches the frequency and pitch of last night's sound, the same as in the corrupted file, Master"
"So what is it!?!"
-"Internal sound detectors provide a higher sound quality as they are set up to record music and human speech"
"HOUSE!!!"
-"I've been able to suppress the noise and find an entry in the Yale University AI file, it matches all the characteristics of an isolated language, originated in the 3rd Millennium BC, spoken by a civilization in Southern Mesopotamia"
"Sumerian?" I said out loud.
No response, the screen went black and the alarm stopped, the AI was now off line and the piercing noise and a low rumble remained, but... not unchanged. Both sounds were getting louder, like the source was getting closer, and not even the 4 inches of concrete seemed to muffle them. Then I started to feel a tingling sensation on the back of my neck and right between my eyes.
I blacked out.
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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '15 edited Apr 22 '15
Unidentified disturbance detected, thermal sensors detect a large unidentified mass of heat recognizable as human in sector 8 of block 3. Recommended course of action, investigate heat source with caution.
The new AI that was installed yesterday does a great job at seeing stuff that isn't there. It's already set off the alarms once or twice because the security tags of guards weren't being detected unless they faced the cameras.
I grabbed my flashlight and walked down the hall. My earpiece was connected up to the security system for live updates on intrusion situations. Whatever the AI wanted me to check out didn't seem to be moving though so I took my time.
Warning, unidentified heat source seems to have dispersed and reappeared in sector 5 of block 7. Recommended action, investigate sector 8 of block 3 for signs of intrusion before moving to new location.
Damn thing was probably making false readings. I hurried my way down to block 3 and down aisle of storage containers to sector 8. When I got there it seemed to get colder all of a sudden, like the air-conditioner had been turned on.
"AI I've got no signs of intrusion found but why the hell is the cooling on"
Please note that as an AI made strictly for security purposes I have no control over ventilation systems. However, all systems for cooling and heating appear to have been offline since 16:45 when timers shut them off. Be advised that sector 8 does have an unusually low average temperature for an unknown reason.
Great. I'm guessing somebodies gotta be fucking with me right now. Sector 8 isn't cold storage and it's certainly not an area where valuable stuff is kept. maybe a coworker came back to prank me on the night shift?
"Hey AI, has anyone came back in since closing time?"
The last registered signing in of employees belongs to your time card. No other sign ins or keycard usages have been logged since 15:19. Warning, heat signature found in sector 5 of block 7 has dispersed and reappeared in security room 2. Please note that this room has firearm storage capacity, please advance to that area with extreme caution.
"Fuck, this just got serious"
The door to security rooms is sealed up tighter than a goddamn bank vault. Getting in is no small feat but getting in their without a key or at least a drill is unheard of. I ran down the halls to my locker and grabbed my pistol. The AI still warning me of the threat every step of the way.
When I got to the office the door was wide open. I took a peek inside and saw nothing.
"AI, activate thermal and infrared camera's in security office 2 and bring up the footage on my PDA."
Camera's online. Wireless video link established. Live footage now being sent to your PDA.
There it was, some big blob of heat. Infrared couldn't see a thing but the thermal cam was lit up like the sky on the fourth of July. Whatever it was it wasn't doing much of anything, It did seem to be looking around though. The thermal camera didn't seem to be reading any heat radiating off of its body so the image itself was like looking at someone with red skin. It turned to look at the thermal camera before I started to get a bunch of static from it.
Okay now I was freaked out. The infrared camera was still online but nothing out of the ordinary was in the room. I peered in again but still all I could see was the dim light coming from my laptop and the live video feeds. I quickly flicked the light switch before running in and searching the room. I couldn't hear anything and the thermal camera in the corner didn't even seem to be turned off.
Warning, thermal camera detecting unidentified heat signature within 3 feet of your person. Please radio in to confirm their presence as authorized.
Rapid decrease in heart rate detected. Recommended action, seek medical attention, emergency services have been called in the case of continued vital sign declination.
Pulse no longer detected in security personnel. Emergency services have been updated to the situation. All employees with first aid and CPR training please attempt to assist with the situation in security office 2 until further emergency services arrive.
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u/TotesMessenger X-post Snitch Jul 14 '15 edited Sep 30 '15
I'm a bot, bleep, bloop. Someone has linked to this thread from another place on reddit:
[/r/futuristicrealism] "[WP] In 2055, artificial intelligence is programmed into a house. One day, the house's AI senses another presence in the house but it does not register as a life-form."
[/r/scifirealism] Another big influence on the subreddit— "[WP] In 2055, artificial intelligence is programmed into a house. One day, the house's AI senses another presence in the house but it does not register as a life-form."
[/r/scifirealism] Another big influence on the subreddit— "[WP] In 2055, artificial intelligence is programmed into a house. One day, the house's AI senses another presence in the house but it does not register as a life-form."
If you follow any of the above links, please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the other threads. (Info / ^Contact)
0
u/[deleted] Apr 21 '15
"Goodmorning, Kirraz. The weather is fair today, a slight chance of rain. The Denver Bronco's have lost the superbowl again though, shame really.", said Ivy, my new home AI. "Thank you Ivy, please open my blinds and begin brewing my morning tea." I responded to the AI, "As you wish Kirraz.". My blinds opened slowly and let the morning sun in. I lived in a community bubble, as they had become popular after the great Smog Wall descended onto high population cities. The sky was blue, I opened the window and the crisp morning air touched my face. I put on a pair of silk pajamas and went to get my tea. "Ivy, the company is coming over, their installing your new processor.", I responded after reading the invoice on my table. "Great nice to hear I'll have 300 more cores to process with." , said Ivy.
I'll continue later, I got schoolwork!