Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Owen
I’ve been hearing for years that artificial intelligence would destroy the world. I never expected my reputation to be its first casualty.
That cursed chatbot has taken a wrecking ball to my life. It’s sent every woman in a million-kilometer radius to hound me and mess up my day.
I didn’t get my coffee. I’m late for work. And I’ll be suffering in discomfort all afternoon with dried sweat residue on my skin from the full sprint I’m being forced to take the entire way to the Temporary Ink office building.
Any stop can be perilous. There are women everywhere and despite my hat and sunglasses, they keep looking at me as I sprint past them.
A car stops with squealing tires, honking aggressively as I fly through an intersection, holding my laptop bag to my chest. Is it another melodramatic woman in love with me? I have no idea. I just keep going.
Finally, I see the glass walls of Temporary Ink up ahead.
Hopefully, there’s safety inside from all of these deranged women.
They’ll have to get past our security guard, although Jeff doesn’t seem to be the most reactive element in the periodic table if you know what I mean.
I don’t fully trust him for such a crucial, high-priority task.
Oh, blast. There’s a female standing beside the door. She’s looking around like she’s waiting for someone.
I lower my hat as I slow to a jog and head right for the door.
“Owen?” she says as I pass.
“Nope,” I say, yanking the door open and hurrying inside. I keep my eyes locked on the tiled floor as I head straight for the security desk.
“Good morning, Mr. Lavoie,” Jeff says as I approach.
Jeff is a slovenly man with a wide face and close-set eyes, wearing an uninspired uniform that’s never seen an iron a day in its life. I prefer to limit my social interactions with him to a firm nod.
I do my usual nod, but it’s not enough for him today.
“A lot of activity for you this morning,” he says with a chuckle. “Of the female variety. Someone’s been busy.”
A weakness floods my legs and I grab the turnstile, feeling like I might need to sit down.
“I didn’t know you were engaged.”
“Engaged?” I croak out.
“Your fiancée arrived with her parents,” he says. “I let them up. I hope you don’t mind. She showed me the messages saying to meet her in your lab.”
“My lab?” I ask as my ears start ringing unpleasantly. “They’re in my lab?”
“I think so,” he says with a shrug.
Blast. I knew this man was incompetent, but even for him this is surprisingly dumb.
“You let them up without a security pass?” I say, feeling lightheaded. “That’s against the security regulations.”
I should know. I wrote them myself.
“I saw the messages,” he says, stepping back, suddenly looking unsure of himself. “I assumed…”
“Never assume,” I snap. “She’s in my lab? Did she even follow the strict decontamination protocols before entering?”
Jeff blinks. “The what?”
“Did she remove her outerwear? Did she secure all personal items? Did she step onto the disinfectant mat before crossing the threshold? Did she tie her hair back?”
I gasp in horror. “Is she wearing a lab coat?”
“Uhhhh,” Jeff utters, his mouth hanging open like an un-evolved chimp. “I don’t think so.”
Something tightens in my chest.
“Owen,” a woman says from behind me. I freeze. “Owen, I thought that was you. It’s me. Marissa.”
I glance over my shoulder. The woman from outside is now walking toward me.
I slam my security pass onto the machine and push through the turnstile.
“Don’t let any unauthorized people up,” I bark at Jeff. “Especially if they’re a woman.”
“Owen,” the woman says as I hurry to the elevators. I hit the button and stand there with my heart racing, staring at the closed doors. “Owen. It’s me.”
I swallow hard as I stand motionless, willing the elevator to arrive.
“What the hell, man?” she says, the agitation in her voice becoming clear. “Why’d you talk to me all night and ask me to come here if you’re just going to ignore me?”
I hum a tune so I don’t have to hear her.
“You’re a fucking asshole,” she shouts. “You can at least look at me. Dick.”
“Alright, ma’am,” Jeff says, finally earning his paycheck. “You’re not authorized to be here.”
He steps behind the desk and approaches her as I count the seconds until the elevator doors open so I can step in and put this unpleasant moment behind me.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” she shouts. “I was invited to be here. By that prick.”
“Well, he says you’re not allowed in,” Jeff says. “So, you’re going to have to leave.”
“Owen!” she shouts. “Owen, just talk to me for a second! Don’t touch me!”
Finally, the bell dings and the elevator doors open.
A young woman in a flower dress is standing there with her parents.
“Owen,” she squeals, leaping on me.
My whole body freezes as she wraps her arms around my neck and forces her body against mine.
Vanilla perfume fills my lungs. Blonde hair tickles my neck. Perky breasts press against my chest. It’s horrible.
“I’m so happy to finally meet you,” she says, assaulting my cheek with her soft lips. “I brought my parents, just like you asked.”
She steps back, still gripping my shoulders, staring at me with such a thrilled smile that it’s bordering on deranged.
“It’s nice to meet you, Owen,” her father says, stepping forward with his hand outstretched. “Congratulations on the engagement, although I must say I’m disappointed that you didn’t ask for my blessing before you asked Tessa to marry you.”
I freeze. His waiting palm. Tessa holding my shoulders. Her mother’s awkward smiling. I don’t know how to navigate any of this and my body appears to be shutting down.
“Are you not going to shake my hand, man-to-man?”
“Jeff,” I call out as I stare at the man’s outstretched hand, panic bubbling over.
But Jeff is busy removing the girl who’s screeching like a possessed banshee in the lobby.
“Who’s that?” Tessa asks, noticing her for the first time.
“Owen, you prick!” she screams as Jeff tries to usher her out. Why isn’t he using his taser? What does he think we bought it for? “You dickless shit! Come talk to me! It’s the least you can do!”
My employees have been drifting in. There are six of them, all lingering in the lobby, looking confused by the wild scene.
I close my eyes for a brief, steadying moment.
And then I bolt.
I run down the hallway, turn the corner, and burst into the staircase, flying up the floors at record speed.
Ryan. I have to find Ryan.
That mysterious polymer compound that is refusing to bond in my lab will unfortunately have to wait.
I explode out of the staircase on the seventh floor—the marketing floor—and run straight to Ryan’s office.
“Oh, hi Owen,” his secretary—I don’t remember her name—says. “Congratulations on the engagement. I met Tessa in the elevator. She’s lovely.”
“Guhhrrgh—” I gurgle, rushing past her to the door.
“Oh, Ryan is in a meeting,” she says, standing up.
I ignore her and shove the door open. No meeting is more serious than what I’m going through right now. My younger brother’s eyes snap up to mine as his door slams into the wall.
“Jesus, Owen,” he says, putting his hand on his chest. “What the fuck?”
I look at the three people sitting in front of his desk—all marketing employees—and point at the door. “Out.”
They look to Ryan for confirmation. He nods and stands up. “We’ll pick this up later, guys. Good job.”
I’m pacing around Ryan’s office as they quickly gather their things and leave.
Ryan’s office is wall-to-wall windows with a beautiful view of the park. But I’m not seeing any of that right now. My eyes are locked on the hardwood floor as I pace back and forth, my mind swirling in panic.
“What’s going on?” Ryan asks as he closes the door. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I drop down onto the leather couch with a huff. “Worse. Way worse.”
He hurries over and sits in the chair beside me. “What happened?”
I pull out my phone and throw it at him. “That maniacal computer program you installed on my phone—”
“Love Bot?”
“Yes, Love Bot,” I say, sneering at the stupid name. “It went rogue.”
“Rogue?”
“Yes, rogue!” I shout. “It went berserk. Crazy. It’s lost its freaking mind.”
“Well, it’s a large language model so it doesn’t actually have a mind.”
“Oh, this one does,” I hiss. “And it’s hellbent on destroying my life.”
He shakes his head, confused. “What happened?”
“Look at the app,” I say. “Open it.”
He tries, but he’s locked out. I even let him scan my face and it proves useless.
“I can’t open it.”
“That’s your Love Bot. It changed my password.”
“Impossible,” he says, narrowing his eyes as he cycles through my phone. “I should be able to get in using your phone number and the 2FA.”
He works for a minute and then gets in. “Whoa,” he says when he sees the damage done. “What the—?”
I watch as he scrolls through dozens of unsanctioned conversations.
“I designed it to ask a few basic filtering questions,” he says, more to himself than to me. “This is… not right.”
“You think?!” I snap.
I bound up off the sofa and continue pacing as he gets absorbed in my phone.
“Women are approaching me everywhere,” I say with my voice racing. “That villainous chatbot knows my location. It knows my movements and schedule, and it keeps providing both to these… women.”
Ryan winces. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll fix it.”
“How?” I snap.
“I’ll shut it down. Then we’ll message each woman to inform them that this was all a terrible mistake.”
I grab a fistful of my hair as I pace around nervously.
“Let me hook it up to my computer and I’ll get it deleted.”
He’s halfway to his desk before he stops short. “Oh fuck.”
“What is it?” I ask, darting over to look at my phone over his shoulder.
His face goes pale as he turns to me. “I’m locked out.”
“Do your phone number 2FA trick again.”
He tries it. “It won’t work. Love Bot locked me out.”
“Of course it did. This demon program wants to ruin my life.”
“It’s just a dumb program,” he says as he sits behind his desk and plugs in my phone. “It doesn’t have an agenda.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He doesn’t answer. Not a good sign.