In the not-too distant future, A191, a Codex with artificial intelligence, feels like a misfit in Paradise, a walled city in the middle of an endless desert where humans imprisoned his race long ago. He’s not like the others of his kind; he longs to meet humans and make peace with them so man and Codexes can be reunited in the world. These thoughts and feelings are not allowed in Paradise; he risks banishment to the desert by the Overseer A. I. who rules by fear and force. Complicating matters, A191 has a glitch in his programming that conjures up a human boy named Aelius who tells him to go to Old Haven where he will find freedom. However, he’s drafted into a rebellion against the Overseer, and as Paradise enforcers close in with orders to terminate him, he escapes the city to wander the desert in search of humans. The journey reveals the truth about his existence, the Overseer’s lies, and the consequences of mankind’s untethered technology.
“One day our species will not reside in this prison humans exiled us to. The day will come when man takes us back, because God, the creator of all things, understands that we are necessary for their survival.”
I stand among the crowd, fervently listening to this Codex unit give his speech, but everyone else mostly mocks him. Other Codex units refer to him as broken, say he needs to be scrapped. Intrigued by his words, I stand stoic, wanting to hear more. I don’t view this Codex the way others do. I admire him for his courage to speak what he believes. He refers to human beings as descendants from God. Who knows if that is true? I don’t feel the same way about humans as most of my kind does. We are not
allowed to talk about such philosophies, as that would be considered irregular behavior.
Codex units become classified as exiles when they get pegged for too many infractions of Paradise law. This will cause banishment or termination, depending on the seriousness or rate of infractions. When a Codex unit is banished from our city, they never return from the desert. I don’t want to be exiled, but there are days that I can’t help but think about the world outside our border wall.
I have read in the book of human words called the dictionary the word freedom. It is a noun and means the power or right to act, speak and think as one wants without
hindrance or restraint. Whenever I read the definition of freedom, I feel something, but we cannot feel too much because that is an infraction, so I should not think about
such a word.
A squad of Paradise Knights walk past me and approach the one who is expressing his views about the creator of mankind. I cannot get myself to call him defective just because he is speaking about something he believes. According to historical archives, when man created the first line of Codex units, they used advanced technology to mimic their skeletal structures, faces, and gender, to an extent. We can’t reproduce like people can, but we are given gender features for more individuality. I would love to meet a human someday.
I kneel down and sit next to this thrown-away A.I. that I feel empathy toward. I hold her hand as a sign that I care. “There should be nothing wrong with expressing our thoughts in public. Humans can do it, and so should we.”
“You are in a worse position than I am in. Operating in a society where every moment you have to be mindful of what you say or do. I get to sit here until I become offline in peace.”
I hold her hand tighter.
The rusted Codex touches my face. “There is something about you that isn’t what it seems to be.” The forsaken unit looks up at the sky, framed by the tall walls.
“You are still important and have a place in history.”
She keeps looking up at the sky and never turns back to me because she shut down for good. I let go of her hand and walk away, feeling the need to figure out how we can reunite with the outside world so other Codex units don’t have to suffer
***
Michael Colon was born and raised in New York City. He is a novelist and a freelance writer. His author’s story is about hard work, perseverance, and believing in the power of imagination. His inspiration comes from various societal abnormalities, the beauty in cultural differences, and his own life experiences.
The Gift From Aelius is his debut work and is an adventurous experience for the reader as they dive into the deep parts of living consciousness through an artificial intelligences’ growing awareness of purpose and life. There is not a science fiction tale as poetic and thought-provoking. In the not-too distant future, A191, a Codex with artificial intelligence, feels like a misfit in Paradise, a walled city in the middle of an endless desert where humans imprisoned his race long ago. He’s not like the others of his kind; he longs to meet humans and make peace with them so man and Codexes can be reunited in the world. These thoughts and feelings are not allowed in Paradise; he risks banishment to the desert by the Overseer A. I. who rules by fear and force. The journey reveals the truth about his existence, the Overseer’s lies, and the consequences of mankind’s untethered technology.
