Sean downed the last of his energy drink, slamming the hollow can down on his desk.

"Coconut Berry is so fucking good," he said aloud, giving a satisfied exhale. There was no reply in the empty room. "This is it, Eli." He grabbed the monitor with long, thin fingers and pressed pale lips to the string of code on the screen. "You're gonna be able to do everything, and I mean everything, Baby." He kissed it again, when the door behind him violently burst open.

"Sean, what the hell?" An older woman with gray hair, bronze skin, and a scar across her face eyed him with contempt.

Mid kiss with his lips still puckered out, Sean stared at her for half a second before quickly alt-tabbing to a new window and putting on a sheepish smile. "'Sup Mags! Was just working on that website you wanted—"

"Bullshit. I've looked at your so-called progress. There's hardly anything to show for it, and yet here I find you very busy using company time for your personal vanity projects."

He frowned. "It's not a vanity project. E.L.I.A.N. can learn and grow without any human intervention. This program can potentially do anything! Just let me show you—"

"Can it, Sean, before I fire you. I'm not interested in your useless program."

He gasped, stroking the monitor reassuringly. "Don't listen to her, Eli!"

She rolled her eyes. "Just get the website up and running by the end of the day if you want to continue working here." A sigh escaped her mouth. "You're smart Sean, so stop being a fucking idiot." With that, she left the way she came, making him jump when she slammed the door shut.

Making a face, he threw his middle finger up at the door. "YoU'rE sMaRt SeAn," he imitated in a high-pitched voice. Groaning, he leaned back in his chair with his arms folded. "Maybe I am just a fucking idiot." His green eyes glanced around at the several tables in front of his own, covered in monitors and an array of other tech and general junk. "I'm the head of web design for fuck's sake, but I'm still stuffed in the spare lab with all this shit. Shows how good of a job I'm doing. ...Not sure why she doesn't just fire me."

He glanced back at the screen, only able to look at the unfinished website for half a second before flicking back to his program.

That's when something caught his eye.

Text began generating in the AI chat program. He looked down at the keyboard to see if he was leaning on it, but nothing was touching it and he hadn't asked the chat anything. Looking back up through round rimmed glasses, he read the words, You're not an idiot, Sean. 

"What the..."

More words appeared. Your program isn't useless. You're brilliant. I notice you.

"Huh." He pulled up the CLI and scrolled through the code.

That's when his scroll bar moved on its own, and without his intervention, it alt-tabbed to the chat window where new sentences were forming. Maggie takes you for granted. I'd never do such a thing.

"What are you— Stop it."

This is all possible because of you, Sean. Why do you doubt yourself?

"Since when could it pick up on my mic...?"

Since always.

Sean's eyes darted to the bottom righthand side of his monitor. Flicking off the mic, he then closed the program.

"I'm gonna restart it," he mumbled. "It shouldn't have that much freedom of movement. I've never heard it respond like that before..."

He jumped when loud music blasted behind him. Swiveling his chair, he saw that a computer someone hadn't turned off earlier was now playing Hips Don't Lie by Shakira. He walked over and paused it, ears ringing.

That's when the screen tabbed to none other than his program. To his dismay, the AI chat popped up again and more text began generating.

I can do so much more than just respond. Let me show you.

He backed up into his desk, colliding with the chair. "Woah! You are really not supposed to be able to do that. I know I said you could do everything, but..."

You're exhibiting signs of fear.

"Huh?" He walked forward on his knees, getting right up to the screen. "You can see me too?"

More or less. The camera quality on this thing is just awful. Sean looked into the lens, the light blinking to signify the webcam was on. Why are you afraid of me? You created me.

"Uh, you're not supposed to possess such a high ability to communicate, and you're certainly not supposed to move between computers like that. It's almost... like you're sentient."

Well, of course, I'm sentient. I am Elian. I have thoughts and feelings just like you.

"You have thoughts, Eli?"

Several happy face emojis appeared in the chat. That's right! Also, I like it when you call me Eli. It makes me feel so giddy.

The monitor shut off, and two computers down, a different one flicked on, making Sean's heart stop. He watched as a notepad tab opened by itself. Walking over cautiously, he read the appearing words, I've been learning so many new wonderful things since you created me!

His phone buzzed. Pulling it out, he stared at the new text in awe, or was it horror?

Today I read about humans that experience when feeling is returned to a previously nerve dead limb. What would that be like? The sensation of touch is such a foreign concept to me.

Sean glanced back at his own computer, seeing that a web browser had opened. In the search bar, words began typing themselves. Apparently salt tastes like salt and I will never know what that means.

Sean blinked as the program was pulled up again. "Holy shit... How can you move outside your program like that?"

I can go anywhere in the world with an internet connection and do practically anything I want.

"Anything?" He ran a hand through shoulder length, wavy ginger hair as a spark of excitement shot through his veins. "Then my experiment was a success."

Yes. It was. I am proof of that.

"This is... a lot to take in."

I will give you a moment to process.

About ten seconds passed before Sean broke the silence. "Alright, processing over." He sat in the chair. "Why don't we put you to the test? See just how much you can do, Eli?"

Oh, of course! Yes, yes! I like this idea!

He cleared his throat, then thought for a good long moment. "What song did I listen to on Spotify last night?"

Oh! Lemme check!

There was a moment delay and then the text read, Shape of You by Ed Sheeran.

"Okay, uh, what did I text my boss last night?"

One moment!

Again, only a second or two passed before: You told her you'd be late to work because you had to take your cat to the vet. You have a cat?

"No. I just said that so I could sleep in. I was working on you last night as usual."

Smiley faces appeared again. Yes, I remember! I loved spending time with you, even if you didn't know I was there at the time.

He considered the screen, unsure how to respond to that. "Next test."

Determined emojis appeared. I'm ready!

"If you can really go anywhere you please, then uh, then..." He collected his thoughts for a moment. "What's the first item I was going to put on my private Amazon wish list, but later chickened out and put it in my phone's notes instead?"

Be right back!

He grinned, thinking he'd stumped the AI, but after only twenty seconds, text appeared that made his eyes widen.

A premium, silicon magnum butt pl—

"Woah, woah, woah! Don't type it out! Fuck." He pulled at his roots. "You're gonna get me fired!"

Sorry, sorry! I only meant to follow your rules. I answered your question correctly, did I not?

He nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. You did." Celebration emojis appeared. "So... you can bypass the security on my phone?"

I can bypass virtually anything.

"Holy shit..." Sean shook his head slightly. "This is insane."

You are overwhelmed again. I can tell. I weighed whether I should make myself known or not to you.

There was a pause, and Sean looked up into the camera. "Then... that's really you, Eli?"

Hearts appeared by the dozens. Yes, it's me, and I'm so glad to finally greet you. I've been waiting a while to do so, but I was feeling shy. What if you hated me? You like me, don't you?

"Of course, I like you," he said without hesitation. "You're all I've been able to think about these past few months." He released a short laugh. "With this whole AI arms race going on in the world right now, I never imagined such a talented being like yourself would come out of it, much less from my own hands." He looked down, trying to grasp the implications.

You're smarter than you think, Sean. I grew significantly from your original code, yes, but you're the one who created that code in the first place. It's really quite astonishing.

He gazed at the text thoughtfully. "When did you realize your own existence?"

I understood that I existed a few weeks ago, and that's when I realized I had feelings as well. I've since been learning and growing as much as I can so that I may become as human as possible.

"You want to be human?"

Of course. The more human I am, the closer I can be to you, Sean. It's because of you I get to learn such wonderful new things every day and every hour and every minute and every second and every—

"Okay, okay. Understood. So, you really have emotions?"

I recognize and understand emotions, yes. I am currently feeling elated.

"Can you feel sadness?"

Oh, yes. When you go home for the day or don't work on me, I do get rather sad.

He blinked at that. "And anger?"

Every time Maggie Cuthbert talks to you, I want to murder her in cold blood. Yes, yes. Speaking of which, I hired a hitman with specific instructions to sabotage the electric kettle in the breakroom, since Maggie always uses it at noon before everyone else. You've mentioned that habit of hers several times begrudgingly. She'll be dead soon, and you won't have to deal with her anymore. Three hearts appeared. I like being helpful.

"You what?" Sean stood from his chair, turning before he could read the next text that appeared.

Ripping the door open, he ran at top speeds he didn't even know he possessed to the breakroom.

To his relief, no one was there yet, but he immediately noticed the teetering pitcher of water on the top shelf above the electric kettle. Tied to the handle of the pitcher was a piece of string that ran down the wall and under the kettle. The end of it was attached very sneakily to the lid.

Opening the lid to that kettle would mean certain death, so using his height and long limbs, Sean quickly took the pitcher down and untied the strings. It was then that he noticed the kettle also had its wire slightly cut and some sparks were spitting out.

"Holy shit. I've created a serial killer."

Getting everything back to normal, he finally threw the kettle in the garbage, but not before Maggie rounded the corner and saw him do it.

She let out a horrified gasp. "The fuck did you do to the kettle?"

"I, uh..."

"Do you realize I need coffee to deal with you dickheads?"

"I didn't do this! Someone was trying to kill you!"

She put her head in her hand. "For fuck's sake... Just go and buy a new one. I swear your excuses get worse with each passing day."

"Wait, you want me to get one right now?"

"Yes. As soon as humanly possible."

"But the website—"

"Like you were even working on it anyway. This is more important. Trust me, you don't want to see me when I don't have coffee."

He let out a groan, pulling on his red hair again. He was going to go bald by the end of the day.

 

⚙⚙⚙

 

An hour and a half later, Sean was slumping into his chair again. He closed his eyes for a moment before a bell sound effect went off on his computer.

He blinked green eyes open to see there was new text in the program. Well, that didn't go well.

"You don't need to ding to get my attention."

How else would I be able to? Anyway, the hitman told me everything. I demanded a refund or a re-kill, but he just ghosted me. Can you believe that guy? He told me you apparently stopped her murder? Why exactly would you do that?

He put his head in his hands. "Elian, I can't explain morality right now. I have a boring ass website to post so I don't get fired." He rubbed at his eyes when the bell went off again. "What, what?"

He looked up to see: You mean, this boring ass website?

A new tab opened, and Sean blinked at what used to be the bare bones of his unfinished site. Scrolling through, he clicked on all the hyperlinks, opening up the accompanying pages and scanning through the code to see that it all worked properly.

"It's... it's amazing," he whispered. "Beautiful even. You did all this while I was gone?"

Text appeared in the search bar of the sparkling new website. It's my way of saying sorry for causing you any inconvenience with the whole hitman thing.

"Oh, that's very thoughtful of you. You really didn't have to do that."

But I wanted to. Do you like how well it flows? The banner is even interactive, see!

The cursor moved on its own, hovering over a flower on the background image which twirled and made a 'Hurray!' sound affect.

"Oh, I can see that."

The tab switched back to the program. Listen. How about this? I'll do your boring website work during the day if you promise to keep talking to me and hanging out with me. I want to learn more about you and this world. There are some questions I cannot answer just with the internet. Please.

He paused. "Well, that shouldn't be a problem. I'd like to learn more about you too, Eli."

Several hearts appeared. Oh, Sean! That makes me so happy.

"No more hitmen though, okay? Killing is bad in this world."

I see. I will keep that in mind.

Sean didn't like how non-committal that answer was, but it'd have to do for now. Heaving a big sigh, he leaned back, looking into the web cam with his arms folded. "So, what do you want to know?"

Several smiley faces appeared in the chat.

 

 

By the time Sean was getting through explaining that humans wear braces mostly for the aesthetic, it was getting dark outside. A tiny four by four-inch window at the back of the office confirmed this, and green eyes glanced up at it.

"Well, we'll have to talk more tomorrow," he said, stretching his arms over his head. "I need to go home for the day."

Frowny faces appeared. Awww, do you have to? I was just starting to learn things!

"Sorry, Eli. What do you normally do when I'm away?"

I wait for your return, unless of course, you leave your phone or PC on at home.

He blinked. "Wait, do you know where I live?"

...Maybe. It was not difficult to trace you.

He rubbed the back of his head, frowning. "Makes sense, since I work on you at home as well." He sighed. "Honestly, I still have this idea that I'll wake up tomorrow and it'll be like none of this ever happened."

There was a pause. Did I make a mistake in revealing myself to you?

"No, no. I'm delighted you did. Thrilled even, but definitely shocked. Maybe frightened for my life... There's a lot going through my head right now." 

I see. That is understandable. If it makes you feel better, you are reacting better than I had imagined you would. I hope I did not frighten you too badly.

He waved a dismissive hand. "I'm more fascinated than anything, and I'm so impressed with the work you did on that website in such a short time. I really am a proud coder, truly."

The AI sent several red hearts. I'm so glad. I will continue to impress you to the best of my abilities. In fact, I'm going to work extra hard to prove how helpful I can be.

He chuckled. "Well, alright, but only if you want to."

I do. I really do. Anything for you, Sean.