Occasionally Heroic A.I. by David West Read Free Book Online Page A

like ice.
    A waiter immediately showed them to their seats. He brought them steaming garlic bread and water to tide them over while he tended to his many other customers.
    "I'm really glad you came," Adam expressed passionately.
    "Me too! I'm just sorry I'm late. I made you wait for three hours and there could have been some cool stuff at this place," she said, looking over her shoulder at the costumed mascots, less than costumed eye-candy, and costumed patrons gawking at the previously listed. Adam paid no attention to the eye-candy. I took a screen shot for him, for when he wasn't entranced by Lara.
    "So, why is your time behind by three hours?" Adam asked, filling his belly with bread.
    "Because, most of my friends are on the west coast, so they're three hours behind," she explained.
    "I still don't understand."
    "We actually game online, a lot. I synchronized my time, with theirs, to be on their same schedule. I was supposed to have been in an online tournament with them tonight, actually, but I cancelled on them."
    Her phone beeped a harmonic tone, and she checked to see the text alert.
    "This is actually the team leader now. He says they won, but it was a close call," she informed. "Hey, look at this. I've never seen an ad on the web like it. Have you seen it?"
    She handed Adam her phone and pointed at an ad to the side of the email. The ad had an illustration of a man in a tree, peering into an office building with binoculars. The headline read:
     
    New Jersey Office Peeper
     
    The rest of the ad warned about a peeping tom who observes unsuspecting women in offices. Evidently, if you see this man, no matter how much you might like him, take the blue pepper spray from your purse, aim for the eyes, and shoot.
    Back in my system, we all looked at each other in wonder. "You don't think..." Martin began.
    "No... What are the chances?" I questioned.
    "We did it," he pointed out.
    "You're saying that after Adam crashed through the window of the office building, Lara's computer's A.I. is trying to sway her away from Adam?"
    "No, I'm saying Lara's computer's A.I. is trying to have her pepper spray Adam - in the eyes," he stated.
    "Why?" I asked, bewildered.
    "To keep Lara away from men. Alternatively, her A.I. just distrusts Adam. It was very strange how they met. Maybe she told one of her friends on her cell phone or on her computer, where the A.I. was installed, about Adam, and now it is placing fake alerts on her computer and trying to get Lara's attention to divert her away from him," Martin suggested.
    After Adam examined the ad alert, purposely putting it in front of his phone's camera for Martin and I to see, he handed it back.
    "The New Jersey Office Peeper. That's a strange one," Adam said nervously.
    "Right?" Lara agreed, not connecting the dots.
    They took a walk around the expo parts that were still open. The sounds of equipment clanked together and the occupants of the building still chattered away. Since the show was packing up, all the televisions and electronics were unplugged, so there wasn't much to see.
    "Do you believe you can know a lot about someone from just one question?" Lara asked out of the blue.
    "I never really thought about it. I think you would need to ask quite a few questions before you learn a lot about them," Adam answered, occasionally looking over to see if she was looking at him.
    "What's your favorite video game? Of all time."
    "That isn't easy to answer... Can I get back to you on that?"
    "Of course. Besides, that was an answer itself," she laughed.
    "Yeah? What does that answer say about me?" Adam asked, having fun with her game.
    "You're indecisive, afraid to leave your routine, and a hopeless romantic."
    The game stopped being fun for Adam. "Indecisive, afraid and hopeless, huh..." he sulked by her side.
    "Being a hopeless romantic isn't a bad thing. Well, if it makes you feel any better about being a wuss," she began with a snicker. "I'm an adventuring dreamer that will only grow up