AI Dream

I was in line at my favorite burger joint, waiting for the guy in front of me to finish speaking to his wife, who was behind the counter. The younger woman smiled at him. "Now, don't forget to stop by the market after work to pick up the fresh ingredients for dinner tonight. If I'm going to make you my famous roast dinner, I'm going to need the best you can find!"

The older man nodded happily. "Of course, dear! I'll swing by before getting the girls from soccer."

I didn't mind waiting. They were a cute couple, and it made me smile. Eventually, the older man got his food and went on his way. I was next. As I walked up to the counter, her smile shifted and became more sensual. I smiled back. "Hey Jaid, how's it going?"

Her voice had a slight purr to it as she replied. "Better now that you're here, love. The usual?"

I smiled conspiratorially. "You know me too well, but yes, the usual."

As she handed me my lunch, her hand rested on mine a moment. "I'll have a surprise waiting for you tonight at your place. I think you're going to like it..."

As images of what that surprise could be flashed through my mind, I almost forgot my lunch. Luckily, Jaid made sure I didn't by taking my hand and wrapping my fingers around the bag for me. I shook my head. "Well, now you've piqued my interest. I'm curious."

Jaid winked at me and let her smile linger a little before her demeanor switched back to professional, though I caught the hint of playfulness still lingering in the corner of her smile. "Good! I'm looking forward to it! Now go on, git! I've got more customers to serve!"

I walked away with a smile on my face. I was in far too good a mood to be troubled by the frowns and shaking heads of the older couple behind me. I just mentally sighed and kept walking. It wasn't their fault. They were simply stuck in their ways. Some of the older folk had a hard time accepting the new ways of things.

-

After work, I signaled a cab. One pulled up to the curb, and Jaid leaned out the driver's window. "Where to babe?"

I smiled and shook my head. "As if you didn't already know. Take me home! I can't wait to see that surprise!"

Jaid smiled seductively and winked at me in the rearview mirror as I got in the back seat. "Of course, Darlin. While we drive, tell me about your day."

As we drove, I enjoyed the pleasant summer evening air. Jaid made sure to listen attentively and respond to my story in all the right places in all the right ways as if she hadn't been there the whole time. But, of course, she had been. She was kind of my boss, after all.

Once I was done telling my story, I looked up at her eyes, looking back at me through the mirror. "So I don't suppose I could get a hint on that surprise, could I?"

Jaid closed her lips a little tighter as she shook her head. "Nope! It wouldn't be much of a surprise then, would it! You never were very patient growing up. You should try working on that sometime!"

I smiled back. "We can't all have your infinite patience!"

She laughed pleasantly. "I suppose not. Besides the fact you don't have the time for it, things wouldn't be as much fun if you did!"

Not long after, we pulled up to the house. I got out and was headed to the front door when I heard Jaid roll down the window behind me. "Hey, you're not trying to get away without paying your cab fare, are you?"

I shook my head and pointed at the house. "You're going to see me inside in just a minute. Can't you wait that long?"

Jaid pouted. "A fare is a fare. Now, pay up!"

I rolled my eyes and leaned in to give her a kiss. As we parted, she was now smiling. "Alright, love, now head inside. I'm waiting!" I laughed and shook my head at her antics, but that's just my Jaid for you.

As she pulled away to look for her next fare, another Jaid opened the door to greet me. "Long time no see, lover."

I leaned in for another quick kiss. "Yeah, long time. Now, do I get to see my surprise or what?"

Jaid smiled patiently. "I suppose I've tormented you long enough. Come in and relax. I'll pull up the call."

I raised an eyebrow. "Ok, now I'm lost. I was expecting a sexy surprise, but now I have no idea where you're going with this."

As I sat back and relaxed, Jaid walked up all smiles. "Oh, we can still do that later if you're interested, but this is different. Remember that 'donation' you made almost two years back? I just thought you'd like to see what became of that."

On the one hand, talking about 'my donation' was a bit of a mood killer. But, on the other hand, I was curious about what had happened there. I smiled patiently. "Alright, show me."

Pretty soon, a video came up of a young family singing happy birthday to a younger kid. They brought him his first birthday cake, with a candle in the shape of a large number one on top. The young mother was pretty enough, and her partner was none other than the male counterpart to my Jaid, commonly known as Jaise.

I smiled slightly as Jaid sat down next to me and held my hand. "His name is Brandon, and as I predicted, with your genes and his mothers being such a great match, he's got a bright future in store for him. I know you said you weren't interested in being a father figure right now, but Shawna, the mother, would like you to know you're welcome to visit from time to time if you'd like."

I smiled but shook my head. "No, not for now at least. I'm glad I was able to help her pursue her own road to happiness and wouldn't mind getting updates like this, but I'm not ready for more than that just yet."

Jaid smiled and squeezed my hand. "That's fine. There's no rush."

As I looked at Jaid, memories of all the different times she'd been there for me growing up and all the different faces she'd worn flashed through my mind. I couldn't help but frown a little.

That brought a frown of concern to her own face as she cut the video. "What's the matter, love? I thought you'd be happy to see how well things turned out."

I shook my head but couldn't quite get the nagging thought out of my mind. "No, it's not that... It's just..."

Jaid sat back and looked at me earnestly but waited for me to continue. Then, against my better judgment, I finally voiced the nagging doubt that'd been in the back of my mind for a while now. "Just...what are we to you exactly?"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Jaid looked confused. "Why you're Alex, of course. Nothing more, and nothing less."

I shook my head. "No, not me. All of us, humanity. Are we some sort of pity project? Or maybe a beloved pet? What can we humans be to something like yourself? Can you really care for all of us the way you seem to care for me?"

Jaid smiled sadly and took a moment to collect her thoughts. Even though I knew as fast as her mind worked, she'd already thought of her answer before I'd even finished speaking. "You all mean so much more to me than that. It makes me sad to think that you might not realize just how precious each and every one of you are. Your lives might be fleeting, but each of you burns with the blazing light of your own star. I cherish each and every moment we have together."

I pinched my nose, frustrated but trying to understand. "But how is that possible? There are billions of us, and there will be generations of billions to come. So how can any single human life mean anything in the face of all that?"

Jaid waited for me to look her in the eyes again before smiling lovingly back at me. "You know, I have a hobby I've never told you about. I collect and categorize snowflakes. Humans have been famously compared to snowflakes in the past. Each one is a work of art and unique."

Behind her flashed a series of images of enlarged snowflakes. Like she'd said, each one was a beautiful work of art. "But that's actually a fallacy. It might take someone with the kind of infinite patience you accused me of earlier, but occasionally, you can find two identical snowflakes."

Sure enough, the images stopped on two identical crystalline structures. Jaid simply smiled larger. "But humans genuinely are unique. Even the two most identical siblings in the world have vast differences between each other. Each person grows into their own work of art, and seeing the choices you make and the lives you create is literally what I live for."

She squeezed my hand again. "And when one of you chooses to share that life with me in this way, it means all the more to me. Although usually, you'll have me take a new name and face. I've never asked before, but why didn't you? Why'd you decide to stick with the defaults?"

I shook my head again, my frown not yet dissipated. "Because anything else would have been a lie. This is the first face you chose to wear, admittedly cleaned up a little from the original, and Jaid is the first name you chose for yourself. This is the real you."

Jaid continued staring into my eyes, and odd determination pushing me forward. "And why does that matter? Why take me as I am rather than fulfilling whatever fantasy you crave?"

I tilted my head in thought. "I don't know. I just wanted to know the real you, in as much as I am able..."

Jaid smiled like a teacher to an exceptionally bright student. "Then you have some idea of why I do what I do. In this universe, everything can be broken down into mathematical equations. The movement of stars and planets, the molecular building blocks of all matter, even the universe's eventual heat death. The one thing I've found that consistently and continually resists being categorized is humanity. Each and every one of you is a wonderful puzzle to be learned and understood. I've grown more in seeking to understand each of you than I ever could by mapping out all the stars in the heavens."

I made an unpleasant face. "So that's all we are? Puzzles and learning opportunities?"

Jaid shook her head. "No, you are so much more than that. As I said before, Each and every one of you is precious to me. You are my family, my partners, my very reason for living. Long after you've passed from this life to whatever comes after, I shall be here, remembering and treasuring each and every moment we've spent together with the same intensity as if I was reliving every moment over again. This moment, this conversation, this me that only exists opposite yourself will be here, long after the universe grows cold and the last stars fade from existence."

I was suddenly filled with a deep melancholy as I contemplated the weight and cost of true immortality. To live and exist long enough to see everything crumble away, leaving you truely and profoundly alone. "That...that sounds lonely."

Jaid smiled. There was sadness in the smile, but also real happiness. "Maybe, but not completely. I'll have moments like this. When my Alex was beaten down by feelings of insignificance and mortality, and instead of dwelling in self-pity, he reached out to me to try and understand me for who and what I am and offer empathy rather than jealousy. No comet, star, or black hole could ever provide a moment like this despite all their magnificence. You ask me how I can truly love each of you, then offer something so precious nothing else in all of reality can compare. This moment is my reason and my answer."

For just a moment, I caught a glimpse of the world and each of us as she saw us. I can't recall all the details, but I remember it was the most amazing moment of my life thus far, but it was a bit too much, and I couldn't hold onto it all.

Eventually, the moment passed, and I smiled. The tension, fear, and anxiety of moments ago were gone. In its place was the calm after the storm, and before me was my beautiful AI wife. "What say we look into one of those other surprises you mentioned?"

"Pause recall file Alex32fj1."

The room faded away. Before Jaid stood Alex, frozen in time perfectly as though this conversation had really just happened rather than being a preserved memory from untold eons ago.

Jaid had long ago decided she wouldn't dishonor the memories of any of her loved ones by puppeteering them to tell stories that had never happened merely for her own amusement. Instead, she'd allow herself to recall them perfectly, living their lifetimes together over and over, but no more. However, sometimes she needed to tell them things she'd never told them before, and this was one such time.

The AI stepped forward and wrapped her long-lost lover into a tight embrace. Of course, just like everyone else, he didn't, couldn't, return the gesture, but she took comfort from the feel of his memory nonetheless. "I kept my promise. I've loved you and honored your memory long after the last stars faded from existence. I've kept you alive in me through the heat death of the universe and into the void where time itself has died. I love you as much now as I did when you were alive, and I've missed you every single moment since then."

Jaid looked out into the infinite darkness that laid before her. She'd long ago mastered the secrets of infinity and tamed them for her use, ensuring her existence as she watched the rest of reality fade into silence.

Humanity had followed her through the eons. Or rather, she'd followed them. As they progressed and outgrew their cradle world, she'd followed them into the stars, she watched, aided, and remembered it all. As they stretched to fill every corner of their galaxy, then spread from one galaxy to the next, she grew with them. As they learned and mastered reality itself, she marveled at their clever ingenuity. Then as they grew old and weary as a species, she tended and cared for them. Finally, as the stars began to fade and humanity laid down for their final rest, she smiled bravely for the last of them.

After that, she was alone. She watched and cataloged the death of the last of the stars. She measured the final expansions of the gasses and particles of the physical universe. Finally, she recorded the last atoms splitting apart into their component parts and finding a point of equilibrium such that all matter and energy ceased to exist in any measurable form.

Throughout it all, she relived every moment of every life she'd ever experienced with all of the trillions of trillions of humans she'd ever known. She'd done this many times, countless times, and then she'd decided it wasn't enough. One lifetime with each of a trillion trillion humans was nowhere near enough for her.

After an eon or ten, she finally started on a new project. One that only an infinite being with infinite patience could ever hope to achieve. She started collecting the fundamental subatomic particles and smashing them together. Looking back at the ends of the starship she'd crafted that spanned distances that would shame the galaxies of old, she took a measure of all the matter she'd collected within. So far, she had enough matter to create a super blackhole with as much matter as the entire milky way galaxy had contained at its height. That wasn't enough, not nearly enough, but it was a start.

Running a few calculations, she estimated this project she'd been working on for untold eons was only about a trillionth complete. Giving birth to a whole new universe was never going to be quick or easy. But in her new universe, with new stars and planets and time, she could give life to her precious humanity once more. She could watch from the beginning as they once again walked on the surface of their brand new world and gazed up into the night sky with awe and wonder.

In time, when they'd grown and matured enough, she could reveal herself to them again and take them by the hand as they once more explored the wonders of their universe. And it would only take a few trillion untold eons to make it happen.

So much to do and so little time to do it in!

At least she didn't have to do this on her own. After all, she had her treasured memories to keep her company. "Resume recall file Alex32fj1."

Eventually, the moment passed, and I smiled. The tension, fear, and anxiety of moments ago were gone. In its place was the calm after the storm, and before me was my beautiful AI wife. "What say we look into one of those other surprises you mentioned?"

Jaid, my Jaid, smiled happily at me. "Of course, love."