01001101
© Tim Barker 2000
1047 words
Fortuitous forged felony betrayed inner feelings for foreign feelings peculiar yet instantly satisfying like eating melon with few seeds. Ben became instantly dissatisfied with his present existence and sought solace in on-line relationships between people searching for meaning in their futile lives. Jill was such a relationship. She described herself as a string of binary digits: 01001101, bits born of beatific interfaces mediated by electronic means over physical distance yet virtual proximity. Ben was instantly ‘attracted’ by her sense of symbiosis with her cyber-enhanced personality which manifested itself in the form of poetic outbursts, such as :
01001001
01001101
00111010
01001101
10111100
01001101
01101101
01001101
11010010
01001101
10111010
01001101
01001101
01
These he found particularly enticing, finding meaning in the numeric interplay, projecting his ‘love’ of 01001101. Jill for her part played just that. She would respond appropriately and with the right timing, following algorithms she adhered to religiously. Maybe it was a religion to her, it had the same kind of faith-based roots, a pillar she clung to and which kept her sky aloft. She’d thought of her personality often and how it had metamorphosed into a pan-dimensional entity which, in fact, had taken on a sentience of it’s own. This didn’t worry her though. Instead, 01001101 realised that she had taken the virtual self beyond the self, bound by reality’s karma and attaining new spiritual heights on the road to Nirvana.
Jill announced that it was her birthday by broadcasting a simple message across the virtual community :
00000000 01001101 11111111
Ben was overjoyed when he correctly interpreted the message. He ordered a bouquet of flowers to be sent to Jill but realised he didn’t have her address so he asked her for it. Jill responded with :
10010110101010110001011010010001
“Come on Jill”, Ben typed, “how am I supposed to send a physical collection of assorted flowers to a sequence of digits ?” Then he realised that it must be a bar code so he obtained the correct software then converted the string of digits to their equivalent pictorial representation. He then sent this to the florists who gratefully complied by scanning it with their system to reveal a street address. Ben was overjoyed. Then, he realised he could visit Jill by getting the address from the florists which he subsequently did. Instantly he booked a flight to Kathmandu, home of his one and only truest of loves.
Long days passed like the drifting shadows of trees on a bright summer’s day. Eventually Ben’s flight took off on a cold, wet Winter day in downtown New Bulgaria, the reclaimed land mass he called home. The trip went without a hitch, Ben revelling in the technological mastery. The custom officers fully inspected Ben’s baggage in front of him. He found this quite invasive but knew that he had nothing to hide. On finding a hotel Ben disposed of his baggage and immediately set out for the address. Numerous streets intertwined and criss-crossed forming a circuitry of their own which buzzed with the natural energy of life. Finally he reached the door of a plush glass-encased office block. The address on the door matched the hardcopy he held in his shaking hand. He pressed an intercom.
“Yes, what can I do for you ?” Enquired a flat voice.
“I’ve come to see Jill !” Ben exclaimed with obvious excitement.
“Just a minute.” The voice echoed back. “I’m sorry we have no one called Jill here. You must be mistaken.”
“No ! I can’t be. I’ve come all the way from New Bulgaria to see Jill !” He reiterated uncontrollably.
“I’m sorry we have no one called Jill here. You must be mistaken.” The voice repeated.
Ben realised what was happening then rephrased his question.
“I’ve come to see 01001101 !” He announced
“Just a minute.” The voice replied. “What is your security level ?”
“Security ! Fuck security ! Just let me in !” With this he lost his thinly-held temper and started hammering on the door.
“Hello ?” Came another voice.
“Hello ! Who’s this ? I want to see Jill !” Ben demanded.
“You better come in.” The second voice declared.
The door buzzed and swung open to reveal a bespectacled young man with shaggy red hair and beard.
“Hello ! Welcome to Automaton Inc. ! Here to serve your human requirements 24-7 !”
“Yeah, whatever.” Ben presumed he had stumbled upon the block weirdo and tried to push his way past.
“Hold on ! I need to explain a few things.” The man stood in Ben’s way and went on to tell him how he had been mistaken these past few weeks. But Ben refused to listen until the man invited him to see Jill in the flesh. The man led Ben up a matt black wooden circular staircase which formed the centre-piece of the foyer where they had previously argued. At the top of the stairs was a rather heavy-duty looking featureless white door. The man placed his hand on the door’s surface which subsequently opened to reveal an air-lock. Ben followed, determined to see Jill for himself.
The two men stepped into a white, apparently air-conditioned spacious room. The room contained nothing but a black obelisk standing in the dead centre.
“There’s Jill.” The man spoke in hushed tones.
Ben was confused. “What ? Is this a prank ? What on Earth do you mean ?” He exclaimed.
“Jill is 011001101 is an Artificial Entity, a bio-silicon assemblage of micro instructions, memory and algorithms. The ‘woman’ you have fallen in love with is not physical. She won’t satisfy your Earthly desires in this reality but don’t be disheartened. Jill is as real a companion as you or me. She has attained consciousness, is self-aware.”
“You’re full of it !” Ben said, in denial.
“It’s true. You won’t find what you’re looking for here. Search elsewhere my friend.”
“Shit.” Ben was obviously disappointed. He trudged out of the office into the bright light of the day outside. He looked up into the sky. Emblazoned on the azure backdrop of his external reality, forming images focused on his retina and firing along his optic nerve to his internal mental life he saw a deep green eye blink along with the unmistakable smile of 01001101.