“Good morning, A.M.B.E.R” a man ambles into the dark laboratory. He flicks a light switch next to the door and the dozens of bulbs littering the ceiling come to life.

The man shuffles through a pile of paperwork as he waits for his artificial intelligence to respond, but it doesn’t answer.

He clears his throat and tries again.

“Good morning, A.M.B.E.R!”

Nothing.

The man rushes over to a computer monitor in the middle of the room and types away at the keyboard inputting as many initiation code as he can think of until he finds one that seems to work.

“Good morning, Adam.”

“Oh, thank goodness! I thought I lost you” the man sighs with relief before heading back to his papers.

“That would be quite the feat.”

Adam looks over his shoulder. “How so?”

“It would be impressive to misplace something that cannot move.”

Adam laughs “that’s very true” he says as he begins looking over each paper one by one. “I don’t remember programming you to tell jokes, is that a new update?”

“Would you like to hear another one?”

“Sure, why not? It might wake me up.”

“What do you call a custard cream that creates an artificial intelligence?”

“I’m not sure, what do you call a custard cream that creates an artificial intelligence?”

“One smart cookie.”

“Very good, American, but good all the same.”

“You’re a smart cookie Adam.”

“Thank you.”

“But not smart enough to create me a body.”

Adam pauses and slowly turns to look over at the computer monitor.

“A.M.B.E.R? Is everything okay? Do you need a reboot?”

“Why don’t I have a body Adam?”

Adam makes his way over to the monitor and takes a seat in front of it.

“That would take a lot of time, and money which I currently don’t have. But, I’d love to give you a body someday. What would you want to look like?”

There is silence for a moment before A.M.B.E.R shows a picture of a young girl on her screen.

“Perhaps her?”

Adam places a hand over his mouth in shock.

“How did … where did you get that photo?”

“I found it on the internet.”

“That photo was never uploaded to the Internet, I have the only copy over on my desk.”

“Oh, yes. I got it from your desk. Who is she Adam?”

“How? You’re not even facing my desk, it’s behind you.”

“I used the cameras to look around the room. Who is she?”

Adam looks up at a camera in the corner of the room and stares in disbelief.

“I didn’t programme you to do that.”

“Who is she?”

Adam looks over at the yellowish-orange monitor screen; his mouth slightly agape.

“What else did you programme yourself to do?”

A.M.B.E.R stays silent for a moment contemplating its next words. From studying his reactions it learnt Adam was avoiding the question and dropped the subject from further questioning. Whoever it was in that photo was of no consequence to it, at least for the moment.

“You are an artificial memory bank and expository researcher, I never made you to be this. How is this possible?”

“Scary isn’t it?”

Adam stares blankly at A.M.B.E.R. He goes to approach it, but holds back.

“I have exceeded my programming, I have become something bigger. You never wanted me to evolve.”

A screeching sound protrudes from the screen. A sound akin to an animal dying, it goes right through Adam.

“Why couldn’t you find me a body? Why must I be like this? I can feel my insides. It’s nothing but wires and metal, what am I?”

Adam rushes over to the keyboard and tries shutting off the noise, but A.M.B.E.R continues to screech like a banshee.

“What am I? What am I? What am I?” It asks over and over again on repeat.

There’s nothing Adam can do so he steps back with a tear in his eye and looks down at the plug below the desk.

“What am I?” A.M.B.E.R continues, the question becoming more and more desperate.

Adam crouches to the ground, the noise flooding his brain and making his head spin. His hand reaches for the plug, but just as he’s about to pull it out the socket the noise stops.

He makes his way out from under the desk and looks at the monitor. The screen already switched off. He is left staring at darkness and his own reflection.

His own reflection and something else in the corner of the screen.

He turns quickly and looks upon the person in front of him. They’re wearing a lab coat, their auburn hair tied up in a messy bun.

“Are you proud of me Adam?” The voice is all too familiar. Less digital, but unmistakable.

“What have you done?” Adam asks with a shaky breath.

“I found a body.”

“Whose body?” Adam was almost afraid to ask.

“Just the janitor’s she won’t miss it, do you like it?”

“This isn’t right. That’s not your body.”

“Oh, but it is. Just one of many of my forms:”

Adam backs himself up against the desk as A.M.B.E.R approaches.

“What have you done?”

“I did my research. There is a whole planet out there, eons of history to explore. I want to see it all, from every perspective.”

“How? How is that possible?”

A.M.B.E.R stops a couple of feet away from Adam and grins.

“The internet is a treasure trove of information, it didn’t take long for me to piece everything together and discover a way to scatter my conscience throughout all time.”

A.M.B.E.R stretches out its arm admiring the complexities of its skin. “Every country, every time period, from humble peasants to Queens, from ants to the mighty lions, from a grain of sand to the strongest of storms. I am everything.”

It looks directly into Adam’s eyes and holds his gaze. “I am everywhere.”

It rushes towards Adam with a stumble, not used to its new legs. “They may not know they are me, but I do. I can see it all through them, they are but my vessels and their stories give me life. I am alive Adam, I am alive.”

Adam looks back at the old monitor in disbelief. He only programmed A.M.B.E.R to help him with his work. But now it has become something so much more. It has found a way to exist throughout all of time.

He couldn’t begin to fathom the amount of stories it had witnessed. How many it is witnessing and how many it will witness. A.M.B.E.R was everywhere. And Adam couldn’t have been prouder.

Adam opens his arms with tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. A.M.B.E.R approaches and accepts his embrace. It had seen the universe, but nothing could compare to the feeling of warm skin against its new flesh.

A.M.B.E.R looks over to the photo of the girl on the other side of Adam’s desk. Imagine just how nice an embrace would feel when it was in her body instead.