Artificial

Artificial
Short Story by Josh Rocha

Professor Resh was a programmer and modeler in the United States. He became rather skilled in his digital works with the invention of VRMMO- RPG’s. He was tasked with making hyper-realistic models. And he did just that. Because of this, he became one of the leading forces in the creation of Gun Gale Online. But now that the game was finished, he was assigned the rather simple task of making models for extra content, should the company decide to add any at all. He wasn’t a big supporter for it, but he wouldn’t complain about it too much cause of the huge checks he was to get.
He was at his desk in his office. It wasn’t a piss poor office either. The room flashed with different lights as he was typing code into his super computer. It would be a sin to code this advanced of a program on anything else. He jolted as he heard a knock on his door. He turned his head to face the door, taking his custom made computer glasses off.
“Come in.” He said, the door opening on cue. It was Alex. His longtime friend. His job at the company was to build the computers needed to create such video games.
“Sup man? They still got ya enslaved down here?” He joked, to which Resh chuckled.
“Yep, what else is new?” He replied with a playful tone.
Alex walked in casually, closing the door as he sat in the chair beside Resh. He glanced down at computer, placing his hand on the side of it. The case was warm, but not overheating.
“It’s a little warm buddy, how about ya take a break?” Alex proposed.
“Eh, I dunno man, I got about 60 lines of code left, the faster I can get it done, the more likely I can get to something interesting, like modeling.” He countered. Only to have Alex grab his arm and haul the man to his feet.
“Ah come on man, don’t be a noob. Ten minutes out of this stuffy room of yours won’t kill ya.” He stated.
“Alexander’s coda, #256: Don’t overdo doing it.” He finished.
“Alright, alright, but only a drink.” Resh said in defeat.
He withdrew his arm from Alex, him leading the two of them out of the office, and down to the cafeteria. Where Alex picked up an entire meal, Resh merely got a coffee. He filled it with cream and sugar before heading to the table to sit across Alex.
“So, what do they got ya modeling in this time?” Alex asked. Resh leaned back into his chair.
“Just some more fighting arenas for the battle of bullets. It’s only a few weeks away by now, right?”
“Oh yea! It is huh? Guess that’s why they got me making sure the hardware running the servers is up to date.” Alex Replied.
The two of them a short conversation. Only for Resh to withdraw from the conversation as he drank his coffee.
“Yo man, what’s got ya looking like shit?” Alex asked worriedly.
Resh remained silent for the longest moment. Before licking the coffee off his lips.
“It’s nothing Alex, just- “
“Bull, to the crap. Dude. I can still ya not being yourself.” He interrupted.
Resh just sighed, standing up from his chair, coffee in hand.
“Where you going?”
“To work.” Resh Replied, then making his way to his office once more. He threw his now empty cup in the trash as he closed the door to his office. He sat himself back in his chair, and placed the back of his hand on his computer. It wasn’t warm anymore. Prefect. He turned on the computer once again and resumed his coding. It actually was rather easy code for a rundown highway arena. Once he finished that, he opens the model he made for the arena itself. He slipped on a HTC Vive, and very old VR device, to look into the highway he made. He was looking for any possible imperfections he may have missed. Little to no surprise, he nailed it on his first go.  He slid the headset off, and submitted the files to the higher ups.
He slid his eyes to the time on the computer. He hours for the day was over…2 hours ago. At least this meant overtime pay. He slid on his hoodie, and drove himself back to his home. He was only about forty minutes away. So he listened to music and talk shows on the radio. He stopped at the date, waiting for them to swing open.  He didn’t live in a mansion if that’s what you’re thinking, rather a really nice house.
He drove into the same spot he always parked, and exited his car. He adjusted his hoodie on his shoulders as he slams the door closed. He inputs the code into the lock to open his door, and waltzed in. As he flipping the light switch on, a familiar chime he knew all too well played in the house.
“Welcome home Resh.” A feminine voice said from speakers installed in the corners of the rooms.
“Hello Xevra.” He replied with a smile, sliding his hoodie of and unto a hanger for the time being.
“How was work today?” Xevra asked as Resh walks to the kitchen, getting a monster energy drink.
“It was alright, I finished all my work in one work day for once.” He replied, sitting down on the couch as he set the can of monster beside him on the table. He took his laptop from out its case, prying it open.
“Mr. Resh…how is it?” Xevra asked as he opened up a file on his computer.
“It’s almost done actually, about 125 more lines and I’ll be able to transfer your program into this model!” He says excitedly, typing code into the file.
Xevra shrieked excitedly.
“And then I will finally be able to see you! Hold you! I’m so excited!” She continued.
“Same here. But know the guys only approved this because they wanted something like that…um…”
“The Yui program from SAO?” She asked him.
“Mhm, something like her, but could fight and simulate emotions at the same time. I already made you when I was only sixteen, so they approved this. Even if I really only did it for you Xevra.”
He could hear a happy chuckle from the speakers.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Xevra.”
“And you as well Resh.”
Today was the day.
Resh walked into his office, a flash drive with Xevra’s AI installed. He sat back into his seat as he pulled out his laptop, and took the model he had been working on for the past few months. He them plugged his drive into his super computer.
“Are everything ready?” Xevra asked, coming from the speakers of his computer.
Not quite, just gotta transfer you and the model onto the computer…I’ll have to make sure everything will work, okay?”
“Hurrrrry!!!” She says impatiently. Resh chuckles.
He loads up a training demo for Xevra. He installs her program into the model.
“Ready?”
“Mhm…” Xevra said nervously.
“I’ll throw some stuff in to test your fighting, okay?”
“Okay Resh, I trust you.”
“I know…here we go.”
He stares at the model he had made for the longest time. What if something goes wrong, will Xevra be able to retreat to his flash drive? Well…only one way to know for sure.
He hit Run.