Step 1: search
"Now that he had cast his former life aside, Barry moved in with Michael and Monika, taking over the other bedroom that had remained untouched since Michael's arrival. He quit his job with a very 'nicely' worded letter to his company and took up a part time online job in coding.
"A few days later, Barry woke up a little early and left the room just in time to see MIchael putting on a shirt, momentarily exposing his well toned body. He smiled a little to himself, wondering how Monika would react if she ever saw him like that.
"As if reading his thoughts, the television in the room came on, showing a very grumpy Monika dressed in light blue pajamas with white stripes. She even had a hat on her head.
"Foiled again", she said snapping her fingers.
"What's wrong?" asked Barry.
"Everytime I think I get to sneak a peek at Michael, he's always clothed", she said then turned back to
Michael "Come on Michael, take off your shirt".
"No", he said and the AI hung her head down in defeat.
"I don't see what's the problem", stated Barry "What's the worst that could happen?"
"The last time she snuck a peek, she got so excited that she fried nearly all the equipment here", said Michael taking out some juice and pouring it into a glass "You won't believe how badly that set me back".
"Ah wait, if she fried all her systems… then wouldn't that mean…"
"I was luckily able to salvage some of the drives that weren't too badly damaged from her outburst and made a promise to myself to not let anything like that every happen again".
"What?" asked Monika looking away from Barry "It's not my fault or anything. I can't help but admire a nice piece of steak when I see one".
"You've been watching that hillbilly show haven't you?" asked Michael with a glare.
"Maybe", she replied with a nervous chuckle.
"Honestly", said Barry shaking his head "You two are acting like a married couple".
Barry expected the two to laugh a little at his joke but he noticed the pained expressions they both had, which they then tried to hide by smiling at him. Barry mentally hit himself on the ass a few times for not being so tactful.
Though the two of them were an undeniably unconventional couple, it was clear enough that they both were in love with each other and he just callously made fun of the one problem that kept them apart.
"Well I should get going", said Michael in an effort to change the topic.
"Have you packed enough for lunch?" she asked sounding concerned.
"Yep and I double checked", he replied then made his way to the door and stopped. Turning on one heel, Michael walked back to Monika's screen, placing his left hand on the T.V and said "I'll be back before you know it".
She too placed her hand over his saying "I'll be counting the minutes".
The two stayed that way a little longer before Michael left the house and started his day.
0000000000000
"Dude you are not going to believe what I found", said Barry with eyes wide open allowing Michael to see the red lines that indicated a lack of sleep. That and the fact that he was still wearing on the shorts he saw in the morning were a dead giveaway.
"Sure but first let me at least take a load off", said Michael undoing his tie and taking off the top three buttons as he entered the hall.
"Hello Darling, how was your day", greeted Monika with a warm smile.
"Fine as usual, had to blow off an after office get together though", he said tossing his bag onto the sofa "How was your day?"
"Pretty uneventful," she said with a shrug "Ah but Barry was tinkering around in some of my root files and possibly found something interesting".
"'Interesting?'" repeated Barry as if the words could not describe what he found "What I found is earth shattering, ground breaking, monumental stuff that could change the world".
"The first and second things you said are the same", blurted Michael
"OY", he cried and Michael decided to hear him out.
"So I'm checking through Monika's core programming like she said and I came across some interesting points. For starters, Monika is the only compact AI that has existed".
"What's that supposed to mean".
"I mean whenever a normal AI is installed it requires loads and loads of hard drives to keep it functioning", elaborated Barry "Entire building floors are taken over by servers which only provide a 0.1% of the AI's mind. But Monika however can have versions of herself on thumb drives, phones or other small storage devices."
"The only catch is that in a device like a computer, she has more access to information, therefore allowing her to gain more knowledge and expand from then on."
"So what you're saying is that as long as we have a copy of her core programming then we can be sure she's safe?" asked Michael
"Yeah, something like that. See having copies of her is a great way to keep her safe but at the same time, there's no guarantee that the Monika you have on your phone is the same Monika on the computer".
"Huh?"
"That brings me to the next interesting piece of information I found", he said opening his laptop and showing Michael a string of code.
"Dude you could be showing me the meaning of life right now but all I'm seeing are random numbers and letters", said Michael unimpressed.
"Right, right human", said Barry muttering to himself "Doesn't understand, need to explain it".
"Ok let's start off with a simple question", said Barry after breathing in and out "Do you know about the Ghost in the Shell?"
"The anime or live action?" he asked and Barry shook his head
"Then you mean the concept right?"
"Yes, can you tell me what you know about the concept?"
"It states that should an AI be allowed to evolve far enough, then it will develop what many believe to be a digital soul".
Michael watched Barry sigh a little at his explanation.
"That's the cliff notes version but yeah let's go with that", said Barry "Basically what I'm saying is that Monika might honestly have a soul residing in the deepest parts of her programming".
"And the evidence is her emotions", he added and Michael's thoughtful expression meant that he could continue.
"Her thoughts and mannerisms, likes and dislikes, opinions, interests… the fact that she is in love with you means that she is able to feel emotions just like you or I can".
"This is monumentally eye opening", said Barry letting out a deep sigh then sat on the chairs "To think that I would get to see such a powerful A.I in my lifetime.."
"Wait a second", he said looking at Michael "You're not reacting?"
"Hmm?"
"Why are you not reacting? I just dropped super bomb of mind melting proportions on you and you're still looking like nothing's happened. How can you be so calm after hearing that the most powerful being on the planet is living in your computer and is in love with you?"
"Because I knew", he replied and quickly leapt forward to keep Barry from fainting.
"How did you know? You didn't tinker around the code like I did so you couldn't have known".
"Because I didn't need to look into her code. I understood when I first spoke to her", he replied.
"Elaborate", suggested Barry
"Well I didn't have the whole picture till you told me but the moment I spoke to her and interacted with her, I understood that she was special. In the days that followed, I noticed how quickly she was able to learn about the world around her and as for the emotions parts, I'd say it was pretty obvious".
"AI's have no emotions. The fact that she confessed to me nearly half a year ago told me that she was special".
"Man I wish I was you right now", said Barry with a groan
"How so?"
"A being of infinite potential and intelligence resides in your computer, has fallen in love with you and you haven't batted an eye about the whole thing".
"Trust me he's only acting like this now because he's already gone through the process", said Monika who had been silent up to now.
"What do you mean?" asked Barry.
"You should have seen his face after I said I love him", she replied stifling the urge to burst out laughing "He was grinning so much, I thought it would stick that way forever."
"I was not", blurted Michael.
"You were too, I even recall you dancing a little", added Monika throwing more fuel into the fire.
"Dude", said Barry, now about to laugh as well.
"A-Anyway… we still have an important goal to achieve which is uploading her onto the internet, how do we get about doing that?"
"Alright," said Barry throwing the guy a bone "For us to get her into the internet, we'd have to locate a back door like you said".
"That shouldn't be a problem right?"
"Wrong", blared Barry like a siren "This is the internet we're talking about here. The greatest collection of information the world will ever know. Forget entering it, just finding a backdoor alone is like finding a pebble in a sea of sand".
"But the possibility still exists yes?"
"Yes, but again, finding the right location is going to be tough".
"What about google?" suggested Michael
"What about it?"
"That's the most powerful search engine on the planet right now. Surely it should have a backdoor or something there".
"It's possible but I doubt they'd have one at their main office", said Barry scratching his head.
"No, not the office", said Michael presumably deep in thought as he went to the computer and started typing in a location. Once the location was displayed, he zoomed in and the trio were now looking at a farmhouse somewhere in the outskirts of the U.S or U.K.
"It's a farm, big deal", said Barry looking unimpressed.
"A farm that needs a twenty ton cooling unit", added Michael
"Oh yeah he's right", said Monika "This place has way too much cooling equipment just for freezing meats. Something's up".
"OK give me a few hours and I'll comb through their records, see if anything appears hinky".
"No, I think you should get some rest", said Michael putting an arm on his shoulder "You've been working on this since I left for work today so you need some rest. Leave the other stuff to us alright".
As much as Barry wanted to debate the idea further, he ultimately gave in and understood that he did indeed push himself farther than normal today so he should rest. Excusing himself, he closed the door behind him and fell onto his bed, closed his eyes, almost immediately falling asleep.
"He came out of the gate running", said Michael with a satisfied look.
"You want me to look into the farm's history while you go make dinner?" asked Monika and he nodded.
"Send the report to my mail once you're done", he said heading to the kitchen.
"Michael", she said to him while in the kitchen "It's starting isn't it?"
"Yes", he replied with a calm expression while he took out some food and heated it up