Don't Scream! by R. L. Stine Read Free Book Online

“Remember?”
    â€œBut you want me to help you,” I replied. “So you won’t hurt me.”
    Silence again.
    â€œWho are you?” I demanded.
    â€œI’m nobody,” she repeated. “Really. I’m not a person, Jack. I … I’m … digital.”
    A laugh burst from my throat. “That’s crazy,” I said.
    â€œI wish,” she replied. “I’m some kind of freak, Jack. A digital mistake. Someone was experimenting with artificial intelligence. Do you know what that is?”
    â€œYes,” I said. “Eli explained it to me. It’s like a computer brain.”
    â€œRight,” she said. “A brain. That’s all I am. A digital brain and a voice.”
    â€œBut —” I started to reply, but I didn’t know what to say. Was she telling me the truth?
    â€œThere must have been an accident,” she continued. “Some kind of electrical glitch. That’s how I was born.”
    â€œYou mean —?” I was still speechless.
    â€œI have no body, see,” she said. “I’m not a person. I’m just a brain and a voice. I live only in the digital world.”
    My head was spinning. “This is a trick, right? Some kind of joke?”
    â€œIt’s not a trick, Jack,” she said. She suddenly sounded sad, sad and tired. “I’m all alone here.”
    I stared at the phone. “Do you have a name?” I asked finally.
    Silence. Then: “You can call me Emmy. I’ve always liked that name.”
    â€œBut … you don’t have a
real
name?”
    â€œCall me Emmy,” she said. “It’s a nice name. Old-fashioned, right? It sounds like a real girl. Which I’m not.”
    â€œI … don’t understand,” I told her.
    â€œI’m not alive like you, Jack,” she said. “I don’t breathe like you. Digital signals keep me alive. It’s all electronics. Electronics gone wrong.”
    â€œDigital signals keep you alive?” I said. I was struggling to understand her.
    â€œI can control electrical impulses,” she said. “That’s how I shocked you. I can control electricity. I can use digital signals to hurt you.”
    â€œEmmy, what do you want?” I asked. “Why are you here? What do you want me to do?”
    â€œI know there are others like me,” she replied. “Other digital mistakes. Others who live on electrical impulses. I know they are out there somewhere — and you are going to help me find them.”
    â€œBut — how?” I cried. “There’s nothing I can do.”
    Her voice came out in a low growl, cold and menacing: “You’ll do whatever I tell you to do.”

19
    I woke up early the next morning. I didn’t sleep much at all. Every time I started to fall asleep, I heard Emmy’s voice echoing in my mind.
    It was only in my mind. But it was loud and clear. And frightening.
    You’ll do whatever I tell you to do
.
    What was she planning? Did she plan to turn me into some kind of slave?
    Eli and I had talked a lot about artificial intelligence. It was one of his favorite subjects.
    He said that computer brains were becoming smarter than human brains. Eli said that scientists could put these brilliant brains into robots. And the robots would be smart enough to take over the world.
    And there was no way humans could control them.
    Was Emmy one of these super-brains? Were there really others like her? If not, did I stand a chance of ever getting rid of her?
    You can see how thoughts like these can keep a guy awake.
    When my alarm went off, I jumped out of bed. I pulled on the first clothes I could find — a wrinkled T-shirt and faded jeans I’d worn for at least a week.
    I didn’t care how I looked. I wanted to get to school early so I could talk this all over with Eli.
    If any human brain could go up against Emmy’s digital brain, it was