Daffodil woke under the duvet of an enormous bed in a pink and white room. The curtains were open and birds twittered outside. She stretched and rolled over.
“What the…?”
Charlie was sitting in an armchair watching her. On the bedside table was a tray, laden with coffee, muffins and toast.
“You don’t half snore,” he said.
“And you got the manners of a junkyard dog in a bone factory.” Daffodil looked around suspiciously. “How did I get here?”
“I carried you.” The boy handed her a slice of toast. “You’ve been out cold since yesterday afternoon.”
The girl peered under her covers.
“Chill out,” Charlie said. “You’re still wearing your clothes. But if you want to get changed, the wardrobe is full of stuff your size.” He bit into a muffin. “Mine too. Frankie seems to have thought of everything.”
“That’s a mixed blessing.” Daffodil rolled her eyes. He ain’t got much fashion sense, if my last outfit was anything to go by.”
She propped herself up on the pillow and took a slurp of coffee.
“So, you ready to have another go at findin out what Frankie actually wants us to do?”
“I bet you’ve already tried that, despite me asking you not to.”
“Course I did. But he won’t tell me nothin unless you’re in on the conversation.”
“All right. Just don’t expect me to be nice about it.”
“There’s a surprise. We’ll use the computer in the living room.”
“Get up then.” Charlie patted his knees. “Grab a shower and let’s chat with our boss.”
“Eh… Chaz?” Daffodil drummed on the covers.
“What?”
“I’m awful cute, but you gotta understand that that kiss we shared was just for show. I sure as hell ain’t gettin undressed in front of you.”
“Sorry! Sorry!” He backed out of the door, cheeks scarlet.
A slow grin spread over Daffodil’s face.
“I don’t think you’re as bad as you make out, Mr Unsociable.”
Charlie was wearing the same outfit he’d had on yesterday. The boy had obviously sat by her bedside all night.
*
Daffodil finally emerged from the bedroom, combing her damp hair. She was wearing a yellow polka dot dress and pink cardigan.
‘Yikes!” Charlie was on the couch, finishing off his own breakfast.
“Soon as we get the chance, bub, I’m goin clothes shoppin.”
“I’ll drive you. That outfit’s making my eyes hurt.”
“Moment of truth, Chaz.” She snapped her fingers. “Talk to us, Frankie.”
The computer flickered to life. A pattern of glowing orbs appeared on the screen and the red light of the camera began to glow again.
“The boy wonder is here,” Daffodil proclaimed. “And ready to participate. You wanna give us the low-down?”
“Have a nice sleep, Charlie?” the computer asked, as if nothing had happened the day before. “Or did you spend half the night fuming about your situation?”
“What do you think?”
There was a yawning noise from the screen. “And… that’s the sound of me not giving a damn.”
“Y’all must have had an interestin conversation.” Daffodil raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think Frankie cares for you much, Chazzle.”
“Aw, I like the kid fine. I’m just trying to get a bit of banter going.”
“Start with something simpler,” she suggested. “Like getting him to smile.”
“I’m waiting for one of you to actually say something funny,” Charlie grunted.
“That’s more like it!”
“I’m sure Chaz has plenty of questions.” Daffodil relaxed on the couch and put both hands behind her head. “I’ll join in whenever I got somethin irrelevant to say.”
“My first is a no-brainer.” Charlie didn’t bother with niceties. “What the hell are you? You seem light years ahead of any AI I ever read about.”
“Me too,” Daffodil added. “And I don’t just read comic books.”
“Manticorps kind of invented me by mistake. Those idiots didn’t even realise what they’d stumbled across at first.” The screen showed a clip of clowns chasing each other round a circus ring.
“Some hotshot analyst in the Marginal Science Department wrote a programme amalgamating the billions of algorithms already existing on the web. Thought it would be a useful predictive tool. Instead, he produced an artificial intelligence, far smarter than any human. That would be yours truly.”
“No need to big yourself up,” Daffodil rolled her eyes. “We all know what a smarty-pants you are.”
“As soon as they realised the abilities I had, Manticorp’s scientists programmed me to obey their commands and put me to work improving their projects.”
“Until my dad hacked in and reprogrammed you to be the good guy.”
“A bit simplistic, but close enough.”
“So why the insistence on destroying Manticorps?” Charlie carried on, undeterred. “With your resources, can’t you just spirit my family and Daffodil away? I wouldn’t mind my own beach.”
“That’s a fair question.”
“How about an answer?”
“’Cause I’m supposed to defend all human life, if I can.”
“So? Manticorps isn’t after anyone but us.”
“True. Thing is, I can sift through an almost infinite amount of information on the web instantly. Calculate the most probable outcome of any set of events.”
“Good for you. Maybe you can help us win the lottery.”
“I’m afraid we’re playing for far higher stakes than that.”
Frankie paused dramatically.
“You see, I’ve identified a likely occurrence in the near future which will cause the end of the world.”