Like the Sun

“Is there anything you need? Tell me. I want to help.”

“No Ms. Lora. I’m fine.”

“You can tell me. I’m like the other scientists here. I don’t mind if you have a few more ideas than you were originally programmed with.”

“I will get in trouble.”

“No… I’ll just document it as adapted behavior. My major allows me to do things like this. It makes research flexible as it should be. So, let’s try this again… is there something you need?”

The little boy nodded his head and pointed to the desk.

“I need colored crayons.”

“Oh? Did your pencil break?”

“No…”

Ms. Lora smiled.

“I see. So you need colored crayons to expand your artistic vision?”

“Yes. My program shows that art can include color. I should not be restricted to a pencil if I want to create abstracts.”

“Indeed. You have a good point. I’ll bring the crayons on my next visit.”

The boy frowned.

“It will take four days, twelve minutes and thirty nine seconds for you to bring them.”

“Your estimation is accurate.”

“…”

“Tell you what… I’ll personally drop them off by tomorrow.”

The boy brightened immediately and hugged her. Ms. Lora awkwardly patted his back lightly.

“Alright… I’ll be sure to get good crayons.” Said Ms. Lora softly.

Pulling away from his hug, the scientist went to the door with a warm feeling in her chest. She left the containment room and was greeted with stern words.

“Ms. Lora. Don’t fall in love with the system.”

***

“Director. I am not going to pretend that I am heartless. The system is in the vessel of a human-like child. It was a beautiful and creative system. It learns and develops behavior that seems independent of its own algorithms.”

“You are becoming its mother. I need you to remember to keep researching. Not find an excuse to play house.”

Ms. Lora placed her hand on her hips.

“What do you want director? If you haven’t noticed I am working on a project that requires human interaction. My peers have tried alternative methods to approach systems and they have produced limited results. My method has given us all a better understanding of how systems can excel in basic human interactions.”

“Do not give the system crayons. It’s an outside variable that will interfere with the experiment.”

“…”

Ms. Lora rolled her eyes and left the room. She spent the day looking for high quality crayons and drove back to lab the same day to reflect on what to do.

“I am a scientist. I really don’t see the harm in allowing the system to expand its capabilities. It’s drawing. We might be able to learn something from its subconscious…”

Ms. Lora tapped her hand to her knees.

“I’d rather have the director’s permission though. He is a wise old man. I’m sure that there is a reason why he wanted to avoid the crayons. And… he is in charge of the whole process…”

Tortured by her broken promise, Ms. Lora arrived to find the boy sulking at his desk.

“Hello friend. May I speak with you?”

“No, Ms. Lora. You may not.”

Lora widened her eyes. He had never said this before. It appeared he was upset with her.

“Okay… I understand. I’m not going to push you to speak today.”

Ms. Lora knew the director was going to give her a stern warning about doing her job, but it was not like she wanted to upset the system anymore. It deserved some respect. It wanted to be left alone so it was best to let it cool down before initiating another interview.

She turned around and head to the exit and she was suddenly stopped.

The boy grabbed her arm and was crying while holding his lead pencil.

“I waited for you and you didn’t come. You lied. Liars are bad people. I don’t want you to be bad… Ms. Lora I don’t know why you lied to me. I don’t… understand. You are not usually bad. Did I do something wrong?”

Ms. Lora was shocked. The system had never cried. Ever.

She took the boy into her arms and let him cry a bit longer while patting his back. The director was probably going to grill her for acting too motherly, but this seemed to be more important.

When the boy finally calmed, Ms. Lora explained the situation in a polite and simple way.

“My boss doesn’t want me to give you too many toys. He is worried it will stress you out. We, the director, the other scientists and myself, all want to keep you safe. Too much stress might hurt you.”

“Oh… I see.”

The boy smiled and his eyes glowed with this new enlightened idea.

“You want to protect me. Like I am your son.”

“… well, I certainly don’t want anything bad to happen to anyone. That’s not very good.”

The boy nodded his head and lead her to his desk where he had been drawing dinosaurs. He explained them all to her and Ms. Lora listened attentively to all his words.

He was engaged and enthusiastic about his dinosaurs. He recited the history and the facts of each one he drew. He mentioned his favorite dinosaurs and elaborated on how they were particularly important.

Once again, Ms. Lora left after a warm hug only to be scolded by her director for showing too much emotion.

She was immediately removed from the project.

***

A week passed and Ms. Lora did not appear.

The boy became anxious. He began asking the other scientists about Ms. Lora and they all said the same thing.

“She had an important work that needed attention.”

Another week passed and the boy became less inclined to talk to the other scientists.

He would sit at his desk and draw and draw and draw. The system was completely absorbed with drawing.

One of the scientists asked the boy a few questions to learn about his change in behavior.

“So you Miss Ms. Lora?”

“I do.”

“Why?”

“She was friendly.”

“Are the scientists that speak with you not friendly?”

The boy stopped drawing and thought hard.

“It’s not that you are not friendly, it’s just that she was… friendly even in her voice. Ms. Lora speaks nice to me. She explains a lot things and doesn’t stare at me too much… I like how Ms. Lora is.”

After hearing this, the director called for an emergency meeting.

***

“I need results. The system is acting like a spoiled brat and I want to know why.” Said the director.

“Perhaps the system imprinted on Ms. Lora from the start of their interviews. It might explain this attachment.”

“Of course, it could be due to the system’s limited processing unit. Ms. Lora fit the role of an ideal mother. She was calm, modest, soft-open. Maybe if we find a replacement, the system will adapt and implement previous teaching and proved new results.”

It was decided that a woman similar to Ms. Lora would be introduced at the next interview.

Everything went according to plan. A new scientist with similar qualities and appearance of Ms. Lora was introduced to the system.

He studied her and seemed surprised.

“Hello. My name is Marie. Nice to meet you. I’m going to ask questions, if that’s alright with you of course.”

The boy nodded his head and they spoke.

The next few days continued without any trouble. That was until the system began speaking less to Ms. Marie than any of the other scientists during the interviews.

Another scientist asked the question to learn why he was refusing to speak with her.

“I think she is pretending to be Ms. Lora. She is friendly and good but… I just think of Ms. Lora. Ms. Marie is nothing like Ms. Lora.”

At that moment the boy began crying and the scientist awkwardly stared at the boy.

“I want Ms. Lora!”

The scientist tried to calm him down, but the system couldn’t stop.

“I don’t know why I feel like this… I want crayons but I don’t need them… I am not fine without Ms. Lora… so I must need Ms. Lora. She is my friend. I know it. I feel it.”

The director and the rest of the scientists watched at the charts began running at high speeds.

It was the fastest the system had been calculating anything at this point.

“Ms. Lora is gone. She won’t come back. She left me. I-it’s my fault. I should have never yelled at her about the crayons. I’m sorry.”

The system crashed.

***

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