The World Without Ai

"It has been over 100 years now, since the world finally set aside their differences and actually solved humanities most concerning problems for the greater good. No more hunger. No more wars or borders. No more Mondays! World peace has been achieved and with everyone working together, the advancement of technology is truly mind blowing. From birth, every individual is given knowledge of what life was before and what life is like now, so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated, and they understand the world they inhabit. Life expectancy has now reached 300 years. However, birth rates have declined significantly and natural births are no longer as popular- though that doesn't mean you are any different than people who are CRA,DLD born. Caring Reproductive Assistance, Delivering Love Devices help parents focus on their technical advancements without putting the baby at risk of the parent's caffeine addiction they need to finish their projects. Your mother and I just wanted you to be close to us while we worked on our Mars Robos Project."  

"Why does caffeine addiction still exist in the first place?!" a newborn named Ai asks her father through the monitor in her StarCab room. Climbing out of her crib, she gets accustomed to her newborn body with a perfect front handspring step out, roundoff back handspring step out, roundoff back handspring, full twisting layout.

"If it wasn't for caffeine, humanity's technological advancements as we know it wouldn't exist. Your mother was so disciplined while she was pregnant with you that she's been at the barista's getting nonstop ten-shot iced lattes, I just know it. Oh, how I love that woman. Ai, love is beautiful. Everyone is born with a life partner that's been designed to suit their 'love coefficient.' This measures one's emotional, physical, and intellectual needs in a romantic relationship. Life partners are based on this data and created through the World's Genetic Bank to perfectly match your needs. They are meant to be the person's one true love- their soulmate."

Upon hearing  this, Ai's eyes lit up. A soulmate, she thought. Someone who is perfect in everyway for me. Someone who will be with me for the rest of my life no matter what. Ai looks around eagerly, hoping to see her life partner.

"But your mother and I decided that you should live your life however you want without being tied down and not have an artificial love like everyone else. Of course, we haven't really thought through what challenges this would bring, and since no one else has ever done this before, we have no idea what will be in store for you. I suppose you could get obsessed with the notion of being the only human alive on Earth without a life partner and spiral into a crazed episodic slice of life romcom where you venture off to find someone you're compatible with and get into all kinds of trouble.... or not. We figured that someone needs to be the test subject for the sake of humanity. Is having a life time partner from birth truly beneficial for humanity or are we hindering something important? We are all scientists after all so we figured you'd understand." 

Ai blinks. "Eeeeehhhhh?!?!" Ai, in fact, did not understand. "Oh, sure, let's reinvent love for science." She turns to look out of the window hoping to find her some relief among the stars. She instead sees a blue planet in the distance- Earth. "That isn't even a good scientific question to run an experiment on," Ai says defiantly.

"We're not scientists," says Ai's mother, emerging from a doorway, holding two ten-shot iced lattes and smiled at Ai through the monitor. She has beautiful dark brown eyes behind her red square glasses, a kind smile, and long straight black hair. Ai looked at her own reflection in the monitor and realizes she's the splitting image of her mother. Ai smiles.

"Well we are, figuratively speaking." says Ai's father. Ai didn't think her father was much to look at. "We're robotics engineers. And as a birthday present, we made a special Ro-Buddy for you. It's AI is trained to help you navigate the world. We made Ro-Buddy to be five inches taller than you so it can help reach things you can't since you'll only grow to a height of five feet five inches. Can you believe that after 100 years, humanity's only height is five feet five inches?"

"I'm more astonished that humanity hasn't made things more accessible given everyone's short stature." A present sits on the small table in the corner of the room. Ai was unable to see it on top of the table before since she hadn't grown tall enough yet. She can't quite reach the present currently. She realizes, Ro-Buddy must be in there. 

"Ai, your name means 'love' and we named you that so you can always remember that we love you. No matter how far apart we are, you will always be loved. Your father and I will be finishing up our project here on Mars so we have sent you to Earth ahead of us. Since I didn't have caffeine fueling my productivity, we fell behind and weren't able to finish in time to leave with you." Ai's mother speaks with tears in eyes.

Ai's father holds her mother tenderly. "We can't wait to see you. Oh and before you land on Earth, please make sure to sync up your Ro-Buddy with your biosignature. It's not good to hold it in. That way it can monitor your health and wellbeing , and send us updates on you. Don't let the whole "I'm the only person on Earth who doesn't have a life partner" make you worry. Once you're old enough, you can submit a life partner request for yourself."

Ai breaths a sigh of relief. It's not that she feels the need to have a life partner that has given her this sense of ease. Its the fact that she knows how difficult it was for other's in the past to find love without the love coefficient and World's Genetic Bank. Humanity would have gone extinct had these not been invented. Having knowledge of humanities short comings sure was handy, she thought. "And here I was thinking I may need to kill someone in order to get a life partner." Ai laughs at her dark sense of humor.

"Anything else you want to say, honey?" asks Ai's father.

"No. I think we said everything we said we wanted to say." confirms Ai's mother.

"Alright, I'll make sure to put this in the baby's StarCab when they're born." says Ai's father.

The monitor reads:

End of Pre-Recorded Message

Ai is stunned. "They weren't even using a live feed for their newborn baby...." she whispers. 

Ai grabs her present off the table and sees a small card on top of the package. The card reads:

Happy Birthday, Ai

Love, Mom & Dad

She smiles. Inside the box, she sees a blue cube. Pulling the cube out, Ai can't help but feel overwhelmed with joy- her first ever gift. This was especially made for me, she remembers. "I better get my biosignature on this before I get to Earth. What did he mean by 'Its not good to hold it in?'" Ai said as she looked over the red cube and noticed something she wished he hadn't. A biosignature sticker in the shape of a toilet with stink lines. With a sigh, she says "Why couldn't it have been a fingerprint? I've only had liquid so far. How do they expect me to produce my biosignature on Loysent?"

Ai measures herself against the wall where the only marking is five feet five inches. She estimates she needs a few more minutes before reaching that height- well before her arrival. Continuing her journey, she is filled with wonder as she gazes upon Earth, the world that she has yet to be a part of. The world without Ai.

A sudden urge overcomes Ai. "How am I suppose to clean myself?!" Ai yells but no one hears her.