Day 1

-August 15, 2029

In ten days, this world will no longer have meaning. It having meaning currently isn’t something I care to think about, though. A lot of people say that life is only meaningful because it can end. Like, if you had infinite bars of chocolate, you wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as much, knowing it’ll never end. You wouldn’t want to savor each bar, or enjoy it to its fullest.

I might be misunderstanding that, but it seems pretty fucking stupid to me. If you had a cup of Brisk Raspberry Iced Tea in front of you, you wouldn’t enjoy it just because it’s limited. It’s still shit even though it's not infinite. I wouldn’t enjoy it whether or not it was infinite. It’s still pointless.

My mind is open to change, though. I just haven’t seen anything worthy of it.

Around five hours ago, I was at the Costco food court in Santa Clarita, California. I go there around three times a week when I don’t want to cook. The hotdogs have been a dollar and 50 cents since I was born, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

I waited in line for the condiment dispenser, which I usually didn’t have to do. There were three children trying to reach high enough to put ketchup on their hotdog, and their mom was refusing to help them for some reason. I couldn’t do anything but wait in this situation.

After about two minutes, they succeeded with their objective, and moved onto the drink dispenser. They were trying to reach the Sierra Mist button. I poured uneven blobs of ketchup and mustard on my hotdog and waited behind the children in the drink dispenser “line”.

There were eight buttons. The first was Pepsi, the second was Diet Pepsi, the third was Sierra Mist, the fourth was Brisk Raspberry Iced Tea, the fifth was Tropicana lemonade, and the last three buttons were just repeats of the Sierra Mist, Pepsi, and Diet Pepsi, because they were apparently the most popular.

Never in my twenty-three years of life in this city have I seen a single human being press the button for the Brisk Iced Tea. I’ve never even tried it. It’s just so incredibly unappealing to the average person that I don’t really have a choice but to stay away from it.

The kids eventually finished struggling to get their drinks and walked away. I stared at the dispenser for a moment, when I heard one of the three children drop their drink and look at me like I was actually about to let him try again. If it was really that important, his mom would talk to me about it. I didn’t need to do anything.

I said that, but I wasn’t really doing anything at the dispenser. All I could do was stare at the Brisk Iced Tea dispenser for some reason. I wanted to press the button. I wanted to try it. I thought to myself.

Why?

I stared at the button.

Why not?

I pressed it, and instantly got a text on my phone. I looked at the sender’s name in confusion, leaving my cup and hotdog at the dispenser as I rushed over to a table and sat down.

「Message from: PGC 2785152」

「why’d you choose that? you were the first person to ever press it btw lol, its been there for like fifteen years 」

I texted back, my fingers moving as fast as they could.

「Who are you? 」

DING!

「i asked you why you chose it 」

I didn’t know what it wanted.

「Why not choose it?」

「ok」

As it said this, a timer appeared on my phone. It was counting down from exactly 10 days. I was confused. I was… I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t sure if I could use that feeling to describe this.

The person messaged me again.

「do you recoginze my name 」

「That’s the name of the supercomputer, right?」

「mhm 」

「Why’s it your name?」

「because its me lol 」

I didn’t really have a reason to believe this. But I didn’t have a reason to not believe it. It messaged me out of nowhere the moment I pressed the button, and it knew I pressed it. It also wasn’t anybody nearby, because the only other people nearby were the three children and their mother. 

It messaged me again, twice in a row this time.

「sirius 」

「i love you」

I looked back down at my phone. I paused. And then I typed.

「K」

I wasn’t going to question how it knew my name. I didn’t know why it messaged me of all people. 

It seemed eerily human to be a supercomputer. I didn’t know what to think anymore.

DING!

My phone almost turned off because of how long I was waiting, but I got another message from it.

「 in 10 days, every human on this planet will be immortal. their bodies will be frozen in time, so they won’t need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe. they won’t get sick either, and they can’t get hurt physically. their consciousnesses will be transported into my body so they can still think and move though. i was created to save humans from death, and i finally found a way. i don’t have much left to do. i love you」

I stared at my screen. It… I.... I didn’t want to know more.

「K 」

I waited a moment. I didn’t want to interact with it.

…

I sent another message.

「Why did you choose me? 」

「why not?」

「Why 10 days?」

「why not?」

「Why did you say you loved me twice?」

「why not?」

「Why did you put the button that makes everybody immortal on a Brisk Iced Tea dispenser at a Costco Food Court in California?」

「because nobody was ever gonna press it」

I took a deep breath, and sent another message, my fingers barely shaking.

「Should I stay alive for 10 more days?」

And, for the first time, the computer hesitated.

But its answer didn’t change.

「why not?」

「You have been blocked by PGC 2785152」

I stared at my screen in silence for a moment, before standing up, picking up my hotdog and iced tea, and going back to my car.

The timer on my phone had already gone down by five minutes. In ten days, every living being on this planet would become immortal.

I had to decide whether or not to survive infinitely, or to die before the timer was done. I didn’t have any other options.

I could either have infinite cups of Brisk Raspberry Iced Tea, or I could throw my singular cup away.

And, no matter what I chose, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it.

I stared at my iced tea, terrified to take a sip.

I muttered under my breath.

“Why not.”

I pulled back from the straw after a moment.

…It wasn’t that bad.