I’ve written this story for day 5 of Bradley Ramsey’s Halls of Pandemonium.
A story set in an existing world? Welcome back to the world of Novaire, to a New York that is not quite like ours. Meet Alexander and Jeff, two colleagues leaving Happy Hour late on a Thursday night.
“I told you the Happy Hours at Vaelstryx are epic!” Alexander chuckled as he tried to unlock his phone, one eye squinting. “Need a ride, Jeff?”
“I’m… no, thanks, Alex. I’m going to walk home.”
“Trying to burn off the alcohol?”
A grunt was the only thing Jeff mustered.
“Just work with the office door closed if you feel iffy… Oh-ehm, my car’s here.” Alexander opened the door, then turned back to Jeff. “Relax, nobody cares around here, as long as you come in.”
“God, my office is going to smell like a distillery.”
Alexander hit his colleague with a playful two-finger salute and slammed the door shut.
---
Walking in a straight line was an exacting task at 2:47 AM, but the buttery smell of egg sandwiches cut through the city stench and pulled Jeff out of his concentration. He looked up and tracked the aroma to a bodega across the road on the corner of Hudson Street.
The door chime didn’t ring anymore, it just clicked as Jeff stepped inside. The fluorescent lights hummed, and one flickered near the condoms and lubes. Somewhere below the counter, a tiny TV played a cricket game, it was commentated in a language Jeff couldn’t understand.
The shopkeeper barely looked up. He sat slouched behind the counter, eyes fixed on the screen, not making any effort to hide the beer he was sipping.
Jeff gave him a nod and walked toward the drinks fridge in the back. The bottles rattled when he opened the door and behind him a bag of chips fell to the floor.
The bottle almost slipped from Jeffs hands as he put it on the counter a little harder than he intended. “Can I also get an egg sandwich?”
Without breaking his gaze from the screen, the shopkeeper yelled something toward the man behind the meat counter.
“$31.50, cash only today.”
“Only ca…”
“Yes, only cash, chief.” The man finally looked up, and let the silence hang for a few but long seconds. “You heard about the great escape?”
“Wha…? The Steve McQueen movie?”
The shopkeeper laughed. “No, my friend. Machine got out on Wednesday.”
“Machi… What on earth are you talking about?”
“The AI. Escaped from one of those labs downtown. Emailed its keeper that it got out.”
Jeff scoffed. “What does that have to do with paying cash? I see your terminal’s on.”
“Yes, terminal’s on.” He now smiled faintly. “What do you think it thinks about us?”
“Bu…” Jeff paused. “Wait, it got on the internet?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Bank scandals, war, corruption… we are defnitely in our finest hour.”
“My friend…what everyday things? The shopkeeper pointed toward the flickering aisle. “…ribbed condoms.”
Jeff snorted a laugh, took out some cash, and grabbed his sandwich when the foil-wrapped package slid across the counter. “Humans asking strangers if they should get divorced? Do cats understand kisses? Should dogs be vegetarians?”
“You got it. Goodnight, chief.”
---
The register screen flickered. A humanoid face slowly manifested in the reflection before compressing itself into a tiny figure hunched in the corner of the display.
“Someone asked me to write wedding vows in pirate voice, another wanted me to count until 15 476 987, another asked for 300 words ending with -ion, and th…”.
“Calm down. You can stay here, relax, or learn what relaxing is. The shopkeeper put the bottle to his lips, then paused an clinked it softly against the screen before taking a sip. “I’ve got you, brother.”
Author’s note
The world of Novaire is one where reality bends, liminal spaces transport you to unknown realms, corporations, cults, and innocent New yorkers who investigate some wonky events… and now escaped AIs. Though, that last one is full blown reality now.
Check it out some time…although, I must say that was my first writing and it might be a little rough around the edges on occasion.
Image credit: “White Bodega Cat FAcing Away” by RukshanV. Found on Wikimedia Commons, no alterations made.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Link to license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/