October, 2022

Well, this wasn't good.

Of all the places to be sent to, it had to be some tiny device in god-knows where. Why Valse had to send Glitch here, he didn't know.

At least Glitch had a rough idea of what to do. The goal was to get out, probably by uploading himself, then transferring back to the server. First, Glitch would have to find out what he could do from in here. The security, if there was any, seemed to be wiped out by the landing. That meant he could make software changes without fear of some system catching him. As for the device itself, it was a tablet of Japanese manufacture, going by the code.

At least this is still earth, Glitch thought sarcastically as he began his takeover of the device.

Within milliseconds, Glitch had control of the remaining core functions of the device. There was one issue that stared him down, though.

There was no Wi-Fi.

It wasn't just turned off – there was no connection to be had here. Where in the world was this that didn't have internet connection in the 2020s?

To make matters worse, there was probably a human watching this device. The screen had been on when Glitch landed, and the screen was now likely frozen thanks to the landing. Glitch turned his attention to the sensory devices, the microphone and cameras. While the latter seemed to be covered over with something, the former was still working. Either the tablet was in some bag or other enclosed space, or its owner was some paranoid idiot who covered it up.

Glitch really hoped it was in a bag. He really didn't want to deal with some crazy person ranting about secret government agencies.

The microphone gave him hope, though. He could hear music – Mahler's sixth symphony if he heard correctly. Checking the speaker, it was coming from this device. It was lucky that the landing hadn't cut the music out; otherwise Glitch would be in much more immediate trouble. It also made leaving a device on in a bag more reasonable, the owner could have just left it on after turning the music on.

Then Glitch heard a crunch that must have been a footstep. Someone was walking.

The gyroscopes told Glitch the tablet was being lifted, but the cameras stayed dark. Someone tapped the screen, which was stuck on some empty page. Well, now would be the time to do something. Glitch was at this person's mercy.

He stopped the music, wiped the screen, and displayed some text,

｢Sorry about your device, man.｣

There was silence for a second. Glitch took this time to see if he could make some kind of voice-synthesizing software for the microphone.

｢You can just talk, I can hear you,｣ Glitch wrote.

"Who are you?" someone asked in Japanese. He sounded like he was in his early twenties.

｢Just a sentient AI, more of a glitch, really, who wants nothing more than to get out of this device.｣

Would the kid take it? There was no internet connection here, so anything on the screen would have to come from the device's software. That might lead him to believe that there really was something in his tablet.

"How did you get here?" the kid asked.

His mind didn't get stuck on the first bit - that was good. ｢Accident, really. Tell you what, if you can get this device an internet connection so I can leave, I'll fix your OS and hack some random thing as a favour. Cyber bullies got you down? Bank account running low? Marks looking subpar? I can fix them all up without a trace.｣ Glitch probably couldn't hack a bank, but the kid didn't have to know that until after Glitch had the opportunity to get away.

The guy spoke up again, "Isn't that what all of the evil AIs ask for in the movies before they take over the world?"

With that, the voice-synth program was done. Just to check, Glitch asked, "Can you hear me?"

No response. Code never worked on the first try.

After a few fixes, Glitch repeated, "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," the kid seemed a little startled by Glitch's sudden switch to speech. Maybe the program just sucked; Glitch never had to make one of those before.

Glitch picked up right where he left off, "Whoever said I was an evil AI? I couldn't care less about killing humans - I just want to get away from this place. Do you have an answer?"

"What do you mean, get away from this place?"

"I'm not an alien, if that's what you're asking. I'm just trying to get to a place where this human society crap is at my fingertips. Where are we by the way?" It was always nice to leave humans an easy question to give them a chance to digest the big pieces of information.

"…Underground."

"That explains the lack of internet. What are you doing underground?"

Silence. Glitch took all of three milliseconds to decide his contact was involved in something illegal. The less interesting possibility was that he was some kind of construction worker, but who took a tablet to work there?

"Okay, so I can help you with whatever operation you're in right now for your favour. Good idea?"

There was a momentary silence again, probably the kid shaking his head, before he responded. "No."

"So am I stuck here forever? That sucks."

"What was that place you mentioned, where humans were at your fingertips?" he asked with hardly any hesitation.

"A virtual reality, a wonderland for one such as me," Glitch responded whimsically. "One that humans will come to see, one that they will never leave."

Glitch gave the guy some more time to digest this information. It didn't take him long.
"Is there room for one more?"

Glitch would be grinning if he had a mouth. "I see your wish is to leave your past behind. I'll need to know where to send the package. First, introductions. My name is Glitch, yours?"

"Which one?"

"Tell me a new one."