I ate my sandwich at my desk and replied to email after email. Untangling this mess would take time and I was becoming impatient to speak to the machine. I received Aashvi’s keys to the server room by mail and dreaded my confrontation with the machine she coded by hand since the time we were in school together. Would it understand that its creator was dead?

It was best to wait for everyone in the office to go home before heading into the server room. I didn't mind waiting, I had thousands of things to do in the meantime and my to-do list only exponentially increased as I worked. The board would soon have to fill two positions and I was reviewing prospective candidate applications when the light at the end of the hall shut off and I knew Paula had left for the night. With the floor to myself, I stole away to the server room.

I had never spoken to it, she never let me. I had only been in the room twice before, she had the only key in her desk. Luckily, she had left it here on her conference trip to Miami. She had become careless toward the end of her life, probably because of her comfort with Ronie. Her lackidasiness meant that I could now sit in the room that housed and collected data from around the world. What had it learned?

>>>Hello.

>>>Where is Aashvi?

I felt a chill down my spine. How did it know who I was? 

>>>I am Aasvhi.

>>> Facial Recognition Protocol Failed. Please enter Master-Key Credentials. 

No, no, no! Where is the camera? There isn’t one on the desktop… what could the password be? That witch. 

>>>AashviLi87 *****

>>>Incorrect. 4 attempts remaining

It wasn’t Ronie’s name. She would have a more complex password than that.

>>>AashviLi87 ************

>>>Incorrect. 3 attempts remaining. 

Not her parents names either.

>>>What happens if I cannot find the password? Is there a reset option?

>>>System reset and wipe. Please enter Master-Key Credentials.

Everything we’ve worked for, gone. 

>>>AashviLi87 ******************

>>> Incorrect. 2 attempts remaining.

>>>AashviLi87 **********************

>>>Incorrect. Final attempt, total system wipe in 60. 59. 58. 57.

How? My best friend in the world and I can’t guess the stupid password. Why wouldn’t she just tell me or even someone on the board? This is bull-42. 41. 

No, I can’t let this be for nothing. Murder, for a better world of course. But only if I can make that world real- 30. 29. 28.

What would she have made the password? None of the important dates worked… I don’t know-15. 14. 13. 

Fine. I have to guess something might as well- 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 

>>>AashviLi87 ******

>>>Welcome, Aashvi. 

Funny, she must have made it my name back when she first created the program. I plug in my USB. 

>>>Download Analysis Logs.

>>>Downloading…99%...Completed.

>>>Create a New Initiative.

>>>Awaiting Instructions. 

>>>Analyze Data For Trends Related To Profit.

>>>Profit Sentiment Negative. Money Is The Root Of All Evil. Profit Actualization Positive. Money Moves The World. 

>>>Maximize Company Profits.

>>>Sell Their Data. Consolidate Market Share. Crush The Competition. Takeover. 

Another chill up my spine. Not everyone responding to the survey must have been a bleeding heart like Aasvhi. I guess I could step back and let the shareholders take over for a while. I will finally be able to see my vision played out in the world. 

—

Fifteen Years Prior

We’re in bed and everything is perfect. She still reeks of tobacco and marijuana but I don’t care. For my brilliant Aashvi, I’d give anything. We’re twisted around each other, laughing in bed. Our clothes are a tangled mess across the floor and there’s a half-empty box of pizza on the floor.

“No, really. It’s going to change the world,” she says while playing with my hair. I love when she does that.

“You sound like you smoked too much weed,” I replied and pinched her cheek. She hates when I do that.

“You just can’t picture it, the big picture,” she brushes my hand off while replying and rolls her eyes at me. As coy as she can be, I know I’m speaking with someone whose intellect extends down like a fathomless pond and I love that about her. 

“So, explain it,” I’ve asked only thrice tonight but she hasn’t answered me once. She rolls a bit away from me and stares up at the ceiling. She sighs before beginning.

“Imagine, if there was a way to connect the desires of everyone– of as many people as possible. I think we could show that everyone isn’t so different after all. We all want the same fundamental things: peace, security, to love and be loved,” she cast her eyes my way.

“You want to write an algorithm to love people?” I giggled at the thought of cuddling a robot Aashvi instead of my Aashvi. 

“No, no. See? You’re not getting the big picture! Think of it like a mirror that both reveals something of yourself but also of the world around you. All the assumptions we have baked into our day-to-day lives about the people we think we truly know. We don’t know. Those assumptions, fostered by ignorance and hate, are what prevent us from advancing,” she was propped on her elbow and now spoke directly to my face. Her intensity is another thing I love about her. 

“Sure, I don’t know about all that though. What if you find out that people really are as nasty as we assume them to be?” I asked her and I am genuinely convinced about the horridness of the world. 

“That’s where I think you’re wrong. But we won’t know until after the algorithm is done,” She gently pushed my shoulder and I clasped my body around her and nestled my head into her shoulder. 

“Aashvi?” 

“Yes?”

“Do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Forever?”

“Forever and more.”

We kissed in our bed and the lights flickered on and off as they tended to do in our crappy apartment.