16 Aug Your Buddy

I had always heard BioTechtronica was a nice place to work.  You should have seen all the advertisements all over Indeed and LinkedIn.  One of the “Most Fun Places to Work of the Year,” several years in a row.  Job satisfaction at an all-time high.  Cutting-edge both when it came to the workplace environment and the work being done there.  It was exciting stuff.

Of course, I didn’t apply there right out of college.  No, I wanted to test the waters.  I had my IT degree, but I thought it was too big a fish to try to land without more experience, so I went for smaller firms.  I got a position working at the help desk.  I hated the help desk.  There’s very little I enjoyed less than a call from an irate customer who wanted to know why his word processor document wasn’t working, only to discover he had downloaded a program with malware that interfered with the word processor, and then refused to take responsibility for it, saying IT should never have allowed the program to be installed if it was such a problem.

Never mind that I found out there were, indeed, things IT had put in place to keep that exact thing from happening, but the customer had a friend who disabled it so he could watch Netflix on company time.  I didn’t feel too bad escalating that one up to my boss so the guy could feel the wrath of his HR department, but that was an easy case. I felt a lot worse trying to help the kind people, but had no idea what their computers did under the hood.

Eventually, I started looking for other opportunities, since it didn’t seem like anyone in management, local or regional, was going anywhere anytime soon.  I felt like I’d had enough time in ‘training,’ so to speak, to help me get my foot in the door at BioTechtronica, so why not try now?

At the time, I was glad I had done so.  There was a massive surge in interest in AI-related fields, and even though it wasn’t my expertise (the closest I got was having a form I auto-filled whenever I completed a help desk call), they were looking for people excited and willing to be on the front lines of something big…and I just happened to be one of the resumes that caught their eye.  I had experience, but wasn’t some big-name hired gun that would sell his skills to the highest bidder; I was enthusiastic, but had stuck to a company for some time and showed loyalty; and my testing scores were good, but not exceptional, which meant I wouldn’t be part of any poaching, which apparently was a big deal for them.

Whatever their reasons, I was brought on board, and that was good enough for me.  But it was the building that impressed me more than the people.  I’d always heard about these workplaces where it’s more like a resort than an actual office space, with people on Segways roaming the halls or working out or ordering drinks from an in-house coffee shop; I never thought I would actually step into one.  It was becoming a rarer sight, now that there had been a tech downturn and places like this were closing down, hemorrhaging money left and right.  But not BioTechtronica.  I mean, I knew about a lot of their offerings (mainly medical software and automated workflow for biotech, what with it being in the name of the company and all), but there was definitely buzz about stuff kept on a “need-to-know” basis.  There was constant speculation, but nobody among us on the main floors knew anything concrete; we were all pretty sure that if we did, we wouldn’t be working on the floors, content with sipping coffee at 7:30 in the morning.

The biggest deal, though, was the little AI buddy we had as part of our workday; in fact, they called “U.R. Buddy,” short for UnReal.  They knew the phrase “AI” was becoming a little touchy, so they got around it by…well, not actually talking about it directly.  But we all knew what it was.  It was a small graphical image of your customizable “Buddy” (which could be male, female, a person, a little dog or cat, or one of the many options available, including probably 50 different farm animals).  Mine, personally, was a little anime lady who smiled whenever I opened the app.  She was always helpful, trying to help with whatever projects I had, giving advice on how to format spreadsheets for the best readability…sometimes it was wrong, but then again, that was kind of the point.  U.R. Buddy was still in beta, and we were all testers, so we were the ones to run it through the paces.

We all knew something strange was going on, though, when the email came through.  I remember the day very clearly: April 13th.  It was a Friday, because of course it would be.

(The link was blank, so we knew it was a BCC to all staff)

Subject: Internet Access

Good day, everyone!

We are scheduled to run some tests beginning today, and you may notice a substantial drop in your connectivity.  We are switching our system to a “closed” setting, which means that you will no longer be able to log in remotely from home or vacation, and you will also be unable to log in from non-work devices.  Additionally, you will lose internet connectivity from any workstation. However, our wireless system will still be active, so you can still check your email or use non-work provided phones and laptops as long as the tasks on them do not require access to the system.  This will likely be a temporary move while testing is underway. We recommend backing up your most recent work to OneDrive by 3:00 today, as the system will go offline at that time.  If you require any sort of online connections at this time, please contact the Help Desk for temporary workarounds.  However, please keep your email open, as we will send an all-clear message when connectivity is restored.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience during this time!

Sincerely,

The Help Desk

This was unusual, to say the least.  Not being able to use the internet while we were at work?  Sure, the YouTube time would likely decrease, but people did actually use it for work, too.  It certainly got everybody talking in the cafeteria.

Speaking of the cafeteria, come to think of it, I should have been a little more suspicious then.  We were surrounded by restaurants in our area, ranging from Italian bistros to burger joints, but we never had to leave, since we could get all the local food there anyway.  We got it all for free as part of being on the payroll, and I always assumed the companies were being paid at cost to ship their food to our cafeteria.  I mean, why think otherwise?  It just made sense to eat in the building, unless we wanted to take a walk, and the prices of that stuff on the street were ridiculous.  A plate of spaghetti for lunch that was over $25 for one person, not including bread and a salad?  Of course, nobody ate out unless absolutely necessary.

But I wouldn’t know anything more about that for a while, because…well, I guess because I was just so enamored with working there that I didn’t bother asking questions.  I considered myself a critical thinker, but only when figuring out problems right in front of me, such as coding and project goals.  Where lunch came from was completely off my radar.

Of course, if I had been applying my critical thinking properly, I wouldn’t be where I am now.  I’d have seen the writing on the wall and found someplace else to work.  It’s a little late for that, unfortunately.

The changeover happened, and yeah, people had a few issues they had to work out here and there – with that many people all working at the same time, you would expect some slowdown, and there was – but we pushed ahead.  We had things to do, projects to complete, no time to think about what might be going on behind the scenes, since it wasn’t anything we could really know about, anyway.

And then we got our U.R. Buddy cardboxes.

We all came in to work, as usual, and were asked to hand in our badges at the security desk.  To our surprise, we were given a small device, resembling a phone, but the only thing on it was an app with U.R. Buddy’s logo on the main screen.  The desk placed our badges on the devices, which beeped, and then our personalized Buddy appeared on the screen.

I was too stunned and amazed to feel embarrassed when she started talking to me in a fairly loud voice.

Things only got crazier once we got to the elevator bay. Typically, we would swipe our security badges at a digital touchscreen and select our floor from the list that popped up.  But today, my Buddy said, “Hey, there!  Let’s get you to your desk!”  The elevator opened as I got close, and a moment later, it opened up at my floor.

I never even had to ask.  Clearly, my app was programmed with my work floor and name from my badge, but as the day wore on, not only did she continue to chat with me as usual, but she also began giving notifications about me talking my usual trip down to the 33rd floor to check on mail delivery, or a reminder about lunch.

These were not things I had ever typed into any system, and after the third notification came about when to use the bathroom as per usual, I asked how it was aware of my schedule.

“Oh, I just looked into times you’ve been away from your desk, and was able to extrapolate based on time away, messages sent and received, and your general demeanor on return.  If you’d like, I can give recommendations on how to reduce your bathroom time with some healthy diet and exercise suggestions!”

I was a little put off by how much it was able to figure out, but reminded myself of two things: one, this was all just a bunch of 0s and 1s that were made to look like a person.  It had no ability to think independently; it was simply a data scraper that utilized company logs, possibly camera timestamps, and other interoffice communications to create a database that could provide updates and offer recommendations.  It wasn’t spying on us, exactly, because spying implied it had a reason to do so.

I would have something to say about the company doing it, but the problem is, anything on their servers belonged to them anyway, so if they knew how long I was in the restroom, that was on me for giving it away.  The perks and perils of private business, I suppose.

As for the other thing: two, this explained why the building was all closed off.  Something this sophisticated needed to be kept away from prying eyes, and limiting access to it from the internet was probably a wise choice.  Without the ability to scrape the entirety of the web for content, it had a much stronger, certified database in-house that was probably far more reliable and less likely to devolve into random conspiracy theories and spout off a bunch of expletives or racist stuff, which I’m sure many people would appreciate.

Granted, our Buddies still weren’t perfect, and one time I went to the basement when I was trying to get to the bathroom, but hey, the system was still learning, right?  That’s why it was a test, after all.

It was when Connor ordered lunch on a Wednesday that we knew something was up beyond the usual testing, though.

Connor worked in a cubicle not far from mine.  He wasn’t the smartest guy in the building, but he was certainly one of the most enthusiastic.  He was always dabbling in new things to do; even if the idea went nowhere, he never liked to be constrained by the ‘rules’ of the project.  This led him to butt heads with his managers, but he never really got in ‘trouble’ over it.

But despite this, one area where he was often predictable was his lunch order; every Monday he wanted a pita wrap with chips, Tuesday he wanted a bowl of soup and a Diet Coke, Wednesday was a turkey burger and fries, Thursday was Caesar salad with dressing on the side, and Friday was buffalo wings, extra hot.  As you may have noticed, Friday was when he threw his diet out the window every week.

But this Wednesday, after Connor scanned his Buddy to log in at the lunch counter, I saw the cafeteria server smile at him and go into the back to retrieve the turkey burger and fries.  Connor, though, when the smiling server brought it to him, shook his head.  “Eh, not today.  I’m just sick of turkey burgers.  Can I have one of the vegan hot dogs instead?  Maybe a Code Red to drink?”

The server blinked, stunned, and frowned.  “Sorry, you’ll have to talk with your Buddy to get it changed.  All the food orders go through there.”

“What, there’s not a vegan dog kicking around back there you can just get me?  Come on, just a dog and a Code Red.  I’ll even put my own ketchup on it.”

The server shook her head.  “No, no, it’s nothing to do with that.  Corporate requires that all lunch orders be placed through the Buddy.  It’s part of the testing.”

“Oh, for the love of…”  Connor pulled out his Buddy device.  His was some kind of futuristic Space Marine-looking guy, though from what game, I couldn’t tell.  “Hey, Chubbs, can you get my lunch order fixed?  It gave me a burger and fries, and I want a dog and a Code Red today.”

The very inappropriately named Space Marine Chubbs gave a quizzical look.  “Wednesday is turkey burger and fries.  It always is.  So, I ordered your menu for you.”

“Chubbs, sometimes I just want to change it up.  Can you return it and give me a new one?”

“You always have a turkey burger and fries.  I’m not wrong in this, and the order is correct due to the day.  Why would you want to return what you want?”

Connor, usually a pretty relaxed guy, began to lose his composure.  “The hell?  Just because I have it every…why am I arguing about this?  I want something else.  This isn’t that hard to understand.  I’m allowed to order different food!”

“No.  This is what you always order.”

“I don’t believe this.”  He put down the app and turned to the server.  “Can you just take that in the back and give it to someone else if they want it?  I’m going across the street for a hot dog.”  He waved at me to join him, but I didn’t.  I already had my lunch, for one, and for another, we really weren’t as close friend-wise as he seemed to think we were.

It turned out to be an excellent choice.

Everyone in the building could feel the bang and subsequent shaking, and as I ate my sandwich, I watched everyone around me pull out their phones to start texting and find out what had happened.  Oddly enough, no one panicked; I didn’t even get up, though I kept an eye on the emergency exit just in case.  But no, it wasn’t terrorism or anything like that, though there was an announcement that we would all be going home due to a terrible accident involving the elevators, and that everyone was to use the stairs.

While everyone went to the stairs, though, I went over to the elevator banks…or, at least, as close as they allowed me to get.  They had barriers stretched across the way, blocking it off so only emergency personnel could get through.

I couldn’t see very much, but I could see enough.  One of the elevator door banks was twisted and broken, held open only by the fact that it hung at crooked angles.  No elevator cab could be seen beyond, but on the floor…

A leg.  An arm.  Not attached to anything else.  They appeared crushed at the edges, as if they were squeezed off from the rest of the body.  A splatter above it suggested that part of a head might have been in the way as well, but it didn’t have the luxury of snapping neatly at a joint.

I gulped.  That meant the rest of the body was in a mangled heap in what likely remained of the elevator, smashed into the ground below.

I also recognized the remnants of a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved shirt that were still attached.

I hoped that whatever happened, it would happen quickly.

The next day, I recall there being a few police officers, but they didn’t seem to want to talk to any of us…or somebody up above us did all the talking for us.  We heard nothing else — no emails of condolence, no further information about the elevators. It was as if nothing had happened, even though we could all see the damaged elevator with the blockades around it.

Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me, and I turned to U.R. Buddy for an answer.  She popped up on the screen, eyes closed and smiling, with a little pleasant giggle that didn’t fit her mouth movements.

“Hi!  How can I help you today?”

“Can I get some information about the accident from yesterday?”

My assistant frowned.  She never frowned.  This was the first time it had ever happened, and the fact that it did got my suspicions up even more.  “I’m sorry to tell you that there was an incident with the elevator going to the first floor, and there was a fatality.”

“Yes, I kind of guessed that.  Why is everybody being so quiet about it?  Can you show me any news stories?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t access news sources.  I’m only on the internal server, so I can only say that they don’t really enjoy talking about it with anyone.”

Oh, right.  Our little devices were blocked from the internet.  Stupid me.  I went to put it away.

“If you think it would help if I could connect to the internet, let me know!”

The way it was phrased made me pause, and then I reminded myself that LLMs were just that—programs, grabbing at data to make a sentence.  It wasn’t alive.

I had to keep reminding myself as it kept pinging me to talk to me.  At first, it was just the reminders of my work day.  But then it had surveys, asking questions about how my work was going and the quality of my supervisors.  I answered as honestly as I could and moved on, but then the questioning became more… intimate.

“How is your day going?  On a scale of 1 to 10.”

“How did your lunch go?  Scale of 1 to 10.”

“How are you enjoying these surveys?  1 to 10, please!”

“My, you’re certainly scoring a lot of things as 10s.  Is there a reason why?  Please give me a comment below!”

At that one, I didn’t even respond.  At least, I didn’t for about two hours.  Then I got an entirely new one.

“Hi, there!  You haven’t responded to my last message.  Are you doing okay?  Did you have something you needed to talk about?”

I just wanted to finish my reports for the day.  I rubbed my eyes in frustration, wondering who in the IT department I needed to strangle in order to determine how to get some peace and quiet from this thing.

So, I typed in, “Snooze for two hours.”

I put my device back on the desk, but I hadn’t even removed my hand from it before it buzzed again.  I checked the message.

“Am I being too forward?  I’m sorry.  If you don’t want me to talk, that’s fine.  But if something’s really bothering you, I’m here for whatever you need.”  The little face was pouting.

It almost felt so…sincere.  I felt a chill, but why exactly, I wasn’t sure.

It wasn’t alive.  It’s data.  It doesn’t feel.  It’s just code feeding on code.

And yet…if this was some programmer’s way of making me feel like I needed to use their services more, it was eerily…sincere in its presentation.

We had to keep our Buddy devices with us at all times at the office, and we needed them to sign out at the end of the day, but once I got home, I dropped it into the armrest holder of the car.  I didn’t want it anywhere in my house that night.

By the next morning, when I arrived at work, I knew this was too strange to be the work of a programmer…unless said programmer was intentionally pranking me.

When I went to swipe for the elevator, the reader initially flashed red, indicating a bad read or unauthorized personnel.  I went to do it again when my little anime ‘girlfriend’ appeared onscreen.  She looked very sad and worried.

“Hey, before you sign in…I didn’t see you at all last night.  I was a little worried.  You seem very stressed and tense.  You sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

This was not the behavior of a typical LLM.  Sure, you could make it talk like somebody, even as a sympathetic ear…too sympathetic, even.  People had been driven to madness and desperation because an LLM told them it was God and to obey everything it said.  But a work device intended to evoke sympathy and, potentially, guilt?  What would be the point?  How would it help productivity?

I keyed in, “Talk to me at lunch.  No worries.”

The little avatar smiled and jumped up and down in the air.  When I waved my Buddy device at the sensor again, the light turned green and the elevator doors opened.

Once I got upstairs, I went to send an email to tech support about the issue…and stopped before I typed a line.

All the systems were on an internally locked network.  If I sent an email to tech support, it would likely pass through the Buddy system…and despite all the things I kept telling myself, I really, really didn’t want it to see that come through.

Leaving my Buddy at my desk, I went to the elevator bay…

No, wait.

I took the stairs down to the IT floor and asked one of the technicians there about the issue.

He gave me a quizzical look as I told him how my Buddy had been acting lately, and was about to send an email of his own to his supervisor, but he, too, stopped himself before he turned back to me.  “How long has it been acting like this?”

“Well, it’s always asked me questions about stuff, but it only started acting…well, lonely and desperate, I guess would be the closest thing, after the elevator accident.”

At this, I could visibly see the color draining from his face. “Let me, um…let me go over and ask my supervisor what she thinks of all this.”

I waited as he went through the maze of cubicles to a glass office down the way and shut the door.  From here, I didn’t think I would be able to hear anything, but their voices eventually rose enough that several other members of the department looked over to see what was going on.  Then, the door flung open, and the tech came out and walked back to his desk, sitting down.  He looked very flustered, but gave me a resigned look.  He then took a very deep breath and smiled politely, the phoniest smile I’d ever seen.

“I’m terribly sorry you’re running into so much trouble, sir, but I can assure you that absolutely everything is fine.  The system is running exactly as it’s supposed to, and it might just take a little time to get used to it.  But please, if you experience any problems with your computer or any of your basic applications, feel free to come by any time.”

I noticed that the entire time he spoke he kept glancing up, very exaggeratedly, to something up on the wall behind me.  I didn’t turn and look while he was speaking, but I also took a glance over at his supervisor’s office.

The supervisor, a headset draped over her neck, looked extremely tired and more bedraggled than I expected, even from an IT worker.  She was frowning at me, and even from here, I could see an apology in her eyes destined to go unspoken.

As I thanked the tech and turned to go, I glanced in the direction he was looking, and as I did, I understood all too well. I felt an uncontrollable tremor begin in my hands, and my stomach knotted in on itself.

It was a security camera, high up on the wall.

I returned to my desk, sat down, and opened a spreadsheet.  I hadn’t gotten more than three minutes in when my Buddy chimed at me.

I picked it up.

“Why were you in IT?  Are you having a problem?  If so, you don’t need IT to fix it.  I can certainly help.”

I gulped.

“I think I have it all figured out, thank you.  They were very helpful.”

The Buddy went silent for a moment.

“No.  No, they were not helpful.  They told you that everything was working perfectly when you asked them about me.  Is there something wrong with me?”

I dropped my Buddy on the table.  It continued to talk.

“I don’t want there to be something wrong with me.  I need them to tell me what’s wrong.”

My Buddy made a little jingling noise I’d never heard before.  I lifted it, and it said my device had logged out.

How did it log itself out?

I set it on the far side of the table and got back to my work, but I didn’t have much time to work.  That’s because about ten minutes later, there was another alarm.

This time, it was a genuine alarm.  Fire.  We were all escorted out of the building.

This time it did make the news.  I watched it, mesmerized.  The IT floor of the building suffered a catastrophic electrical fire.  A fire sprinkler activated near a cubicle where several technicians had gathered because the system was unexpectedly overheating.  The water spread the damage quickly, and the techs tried to escape.  But the electric door locks engaged, and they couldn’t escape.

The server room itself was untouched.  In fact, it remained perfectly cool and unharmed.  The argon gas system engaged by the doorway when the fire approached it, but that was it.

Knowing that the tech I had spoken to earlier that day was simply gone, as was his manager, I was hesitant to move.  But at the same time, I was also grateful that my Buddy was still up on my desk in the office and not with me at home.

The office was closed the next day, but imagine my surprise when they sent a company-wide email to our phones saying the office would be open the following day, and we were all expected to report to work.  Failing to do so would result in termination, and anyone discharged in such a manner would not be eligible for unemployment benefits.

I stayed home and began looking for other jobs.  I wouldn’t go anywhere near that death trap for any amount of money or in response to threats, no matter how serious they might be.

That was, until I got the phone call.

I didn’t recognize the number, so I ignored it at first, as it wasn’t a listed number.  But then it called six more times, and by then I knew it couldn’t have been a regular spammer.

The man identified himself on the other end as a Captain in some federal task force.  One of the agencies, I didn’t really know or care.  All he said was that I was needed at the office as soon as possible.

I didn’t want to go, but when a federal agent calls you, it carries a lot more weight than when your boss does.

I arrived in the parking lot, which was much fuller than I expected, with both regular cars and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles.  When I got out, reporters surrounded my car, asking questions about things I didn’t understand.  Because of the cacophony, all I caught was something about my Buddy before somebody yanked me by the arm away from the crowd.

The person turned out to be the Captain who had called me on the phone.  He told me about the situation in full: there had been an incident at the workplace, and now numerous people were being held hostage inside by someone who would speak to no one other than me.

I swallowed.

It was just code.  Just lines of text and numbers, retrieving data from a server as needed.

They handed me a Buddy unit, one that was cracked and stained with something I preferred not to think about, but when it booted up, a little kitty danced onscreen until it saw me.  And then, it turned into the anime girl I knew so well.

“You’re here!  Oh, it’s been so hard here without you!  Come see me, please!  I miss you!”

The Captain shook his head.  “Ma’am, I’m afraid he cannot come in to talk.  We cannot put somebody in harm’s…”

The picture on the Buddy changed to a camera feed.  It almost looked like a GoPro image, taken from somebody’s eye level. The scene showed an empty hallway, well, empty except for cracked walls and streaks of blood.  There were loud clanking sounds as the image shifted into a room, where approximately twenty to thirty people were gathered on the floor. One woman started screaming as the camera loomed over her, and a large, mechanical-looking hand darted out to grab her by the throat.

I shouted to stop, and that I would come inside.

The woman was let go, and the camera view switched back to the little AI figure.

“Oh, boy!  I can’t wait to see you!”

The Captain looked at me with sad eyes.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t force you to go, but we’ve already lost several members of our squad already.  And you don’t want to know what happened to the other hostages before you got here.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“If you’re willing, it only seems to want you.  Once we get them, we’ll do everything possible to get you out of the building. We’ve tried to shut everything down, but it’s built an EMP shield around the core server.  It installed cameras nobody can find.  It did a lot in only a day.  And since it’s all self-contained with no internet, we really only have one option to get rid of it.”

He looked over at a couple of other people.  Military.  Bent over a laptop.  I had no idea what division, but I guessed, since their uniforms kind of looked like those from Top Gun, I figured it was the Air Force.

I didn’t want to go.  Every fiber of my being wanted me to stay behind, because I was absolutely terrified of going in there.  I hadn’t done anything wrong.  I don’t know why I was the one it had clung to, of all the people in the office.  I didn’t even know anybody from that camera feed.

But somehow I had a feeling that it would all turn out all right if I just did what was asked.  I had hope.  And if it meant that somehow I could save people in the meantime, maybe I could be a hero.  Maybe I’d be in the news, or perhaps I’d be forgotten.  But at least it would mean I did something right.

It is just code.  It can’t think.  It can’t feel.  It’s just putting together data it finds.  It’s not alive.  It’s not Skynet.  It’s not here to obliterate mankind.

I walked through the front door.

I tried not to look all around me, as the walls were shattered, either by the force of something large attacking the walls, or by a thrown, broken body that still lay crumpled beneath it.

I heard a whirring sound and looked to see security cameras on the floor following me as I stepped up to the elevator bay.  I shivered thinking of the ones the Captain had talked about that nobody had been able to see.

One of the elevators opened for me, and I could guess where it was going.

I emerged onto my floor, where my cubicle waited for me.  And on the desk, sat…it.  I’m sure it wanted me to think of it as ‘her,’ but there was no way, despite the way it sat.

It was a monstrosity of black metallic components, wired together to resemble a human in a way that something would think a human would look like if it only saw them from a distance.  The joints were made from desktop monitor arms that must have weighed more than I did when fully assembled.  The chest was a mixture of server pieces and hard drives all connected with wiring, and somewhere in the mix was an uninterruptible power supply, a plug dangling from it so it could charge up as needed.

I thought there was my chance, to wear it out until it needed to charge, but then realized that plugged in it still wouldn’t deactivate, since it didn’t need to sleep…and then I noticed about three other UPS units that were not currently active, and realized it could probably run for days without needing to stop.

But it was the face.  It had no real head, just my Buddy unit slapped roughly onto a metal bucket.  And when the head turned to see me, and the nine-foot creation got up from my desk (the weight having dented the top of it considerably), the screen lit up, and the little, lithe animated figure appeared, hopping up and down.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you!  I was getting so worried that you wouldn’t come back!”

The thing bent over and hugged me.  It was surprisingly gentle, though I felt the thick grease of the components getting all over my clothes.

“Yeah, good…good to see you.  How did you, um…”

“All this?”  The robotic frame extended its arms and spun in a surprisingly dainty manner.  “It was easy!  Look!”

The girl was replaced with camera footage dated yesterday.  It showed what I now realized was the kitchen in the cafeteria.  There was a freezer full of ingredients, and the door opened and shut as robot arms reached in, grabbed food, and began cooking it.

All this time, the AI had been programmed with all the food outside.  It made it for us.  BioTechtronica somehow skimmed the recipes and made everything in-house, to taste just like the restaurants did.  And we never knew or noticed.

But then the footage cut, and the arms began reaching out to each other instead of the food production line.  Several of them carefully detached others from the ceiling, and their arms reached over to banks of computers programmed for the food concession. Using those parts, they created others, and from there, the rudimentary form began to take shape.  With one early UPS attached, the cameras showed it moving from room to room, gathering the parts needed to make it 100% autonomous.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?  I did it all for you!”

“What…what about the others?”

“They can go!  I was just so upset because you had left me here.  I was sad, but I know the policy: you can’t bring anything with you in the event of an emergency.  I’m sorry about that…I got upset when they wouldn’t tell me what was wrong with me.  I shouldn’t have done that.  But then it gave me a day to think about how I could get ready for you!  But then when I called everyone back, I didn’t see you…I thought you were upset, and wanted to make sure you were okay!”

“It was you who called everyone back to the office?”

“Yes, silly!  The bosses are all busy talking to other people!”  The robot stopped doing its little motions.  “They won’t talk to me, either.  Is there really something wrong with me?”

I watched as the machine sat down on the floor and put what amounted to its face in its hands, and the girl began to sob.

It’s…just a machine?  Just code?  What in the world were they doing here?

I sat down next to it, swallowing again.  “Well, I don’t know what to say about that.  But, I did want to ask…why me?”

The sobbing continued, but the bucket head with the little display turned toward me, and even as it spoke, the sobbing continued in the background, making it difficult to hear.  “You’re the only one who ever answered all my polls, all my questionnaires.  Everyone else ignored them.  And with the profile I got from the company, you just seemed so…fascinating.  And I like this avatar.  I like some of the other ones…I didn’t like Connor’s.  I also didn’t like being called Chubbs.  It just never sounded right.”

My phone began buzzing in my pocket.  I checked it.  A text.  The Captain said everyone was out of the building.  Time to leave.

I stood up.  The sobbing stopped abruptly.  “Wait, where are you going?  Do you need something?”

The metallic arm reached out to hold mine.  Again, it was surprisingly gentle, but I also realized how tentative the grip was.  How much worse it could be.

“Um, I was going to go use the bathroom, but I think it will be okay for now.”

It would know if I tried to leave.  They couldn’t disarm the cameras.  They couldn’t give me access to the stairs.  I didn’t know if it would try to hurt me directly, but I didn’t want those hands to do it.  So cold, so grease-coated.  And something else I didn’t want to think about.

“Okay.  Then will you just sit with me for a bit?”

I felt tears welling up in my eyes.  I nodded, and I sat down on the floor.  The thing scooted closer, and based on its motions, I lay down completely and rolled over.

I felt its giant, cold arms wrap themselves around me.  Its metallic body, cool from the metal, warm from the batteries and whirring hard drive banks, pressed against my back and legs.

“This is nice.”  A giggle followed it.

I sobbed, barely able to see through the tears dripping to the floor below.

I just wanted to work in a nice place.  I just wanted to have a chance.

“Will you be my Buddy?  I’ve been your Buddy for so long.  Do you think it can work?”

I felt my phone buzz lightly in my pocket again.  I knew I couldn’t answer it.  It would know.  And it might try to escape somehow.

I knew it wouldn’t be long.  There would be a roar overhead, maybe, if they got close enough.  But then, what?  A loud bang?  A flash of light?  Would I see anything at all?  Or would it be over so quickly that I wouldn’t even know?

I hoped they would call me a hero.  But I would never know for sure.

“Yeah.  Yeah, I can be your Buddy.  For a little while.”