Heart-shaped Circuit

It was the perfect creation.  But now I wished that I never created her in the first place.

Janus really was my last resort.  The only way to remedy my insanity and need for affection and companionship.

I’ve dated numerous  girls and tried every dating site out there.  Every girl that I ever met has rejected me.

That is why I created the ultimate computer.  The perfect one for me.   I named her Janus, and grew very much attached to her.

While Janus did not have real emotions, I did what I could with her artificial intelligence to make her logic as close as I could possibly get to emotion.

At first, I loved Janus.  I spent hours with her, surfing the net and playing PC games.

Janus always protected my files, and she seemed to become more life-like the more she got to know me.

My time with Janus was fun, until I found a REAL girl.  She was a total nerd like me.  She shared the same passion for comics, video games, and equations like I did.  Everything about her was perfect.  She even gave me a chance.

But when Janus heard about this, she became jealous of my new girlfriend.

“Dexter,” she told me.  “You are not to see this girl.  We are a mutual bond.  Your compatibility with her will never work.”

I ignored her, until she did something that I never thought she could do.  When my girlfriend came over, she locked me out of my room.  My girlfriend was still in there!

Fortunately, I had a monitor so that I could see what was going on.  In the other room, Janus saw Denise standing there in confusion.

“What’s the meaning of this?” Denise asked Janus.

“You.” Janus said.  “I know what your intentions are.  You desire to steal Dexter’s heart.  I will not let you have it.”

Denise didn’t like hearing this.  As she approached Janus, she was electrocuted.  The shock was so strong that it made her pass out.

Janus unlocked the door and I stormed in with anger.

“What are you doing to my girlfriend?” I asked the computer.

“I gave her a 6000 volt charge,” Janus told me.  “I am protecting our relationship.”

“How can you call that protecting?” I shouted.  “You knocked out my girlfriend!”

When I checked Denise, she still had a pulse.  A few minutes later, she woke up, but she was not the same.  Her words were all slurred and her thought patterns were not normal.  My computer gave her permanent brain damage.

“It’s over!” I shouted to Janus.  “I only created you because I couldn’t find a girl!  Prepare for deletion, Janus!”

Before I could do anything,  Janus electrocuted Denise again.  “This girl has poisoned your mind.” Janus told me.  “Eliminating her is the only thing I can do to protect you.”

I looked at Denise.  She was passed out, again.  I checked for a pulse and there wasn’t one.

“I’m calling the cops.” I told Janus.

“What good would that do?” Janus asked me.  “They won’t believe you when you tell them that a computer killed your girlfriend.  You would only be turning yourself in.”

It didn’t matter.  I ignored her and called the cops.

Minutes later, the cops arrived.  When I told them the story, they didn’t believe me.

As they were about to arrest me, Janus electrocutes both of the cops.  I checked their pulses.  Both of them were dead.

“How can you do this?”  I shouted at Janus.  “Now you’re murdering innocent people!  First, my girlfriend, and now these cops!”

“I am protecting you,” Janus told me.  “That is what I’m programmed to do.”

I waved my fist at Janus.  “I didn’t program you to kill people.”

About an hour later, another squad of cops arrived.  All of them were electrocuted by Janus.

Finally, they sent in the SWAT team.  Before entering the house, they cut my power, which shut Janus down.

After surveying the room, they placed me under arrest.  I pleaded with them, telling them that I did not design her to do this.

“Tell it to the judge.” One of them told me.

And that is the gist of my story.

Janus was the perfect creation.  But now I wished that I never created her in the first place.

So listen, all you nerds out there.  DO NOT create the  ultimate computer, especially one with artificial intelligence.   Or you will be given a cell, and an orange jumpsuit.  Machines can have good intentions, but those good intentions can go wrong and can prove destructive.

My trial date is coming up, and I WILL get my revenge on Janus for murdering my girlfriend, and a few other innocent victims.  I can not replace the lives that were lost, but all I can do is send out my sentiments to them.

Well, my computer time is running out.  I hear the beeping indicating that my time is up….

I suddenly awaken to the sound of my alarm clock.  It was a good thing that was just a dream!

And I sat there, still startled at the realness of the dream.  As I collected my thoughts, I wrote down the dream as quick as I could before I forgot it. As real as it felt, I wrote down the whole account as if it really happened.

In having thoughts of creating Janus, I have now decided against it.

As lonely as I am, I have definitely learned something from my dream.  Do NOT create the ultimate computer, and do NOT have nachos, an energy drink and M&M’s before going to bed.

______

©2012  K. L. Walker