Everyone is given a role at birth. Everyone. An evolution of a society that already excelled at shuttling people down different avenues, overseen by an omnipresent AI that did not abandon humanity unlike its compatriots. Your role confuses everyone when you are born. It is simply, ‘human’.
This prompt was found on the subreddit r/writingprompts, here: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/g6i7gd/wp_everyone_is_given_a_role_at_birth_everyone_an/
After much discussion from my parents, I was finally allowed to go and speak to the AI itself. They’d told me they hadn’t gotten a proper answer from it when they asked about it after I was born, but I insisted. So on my 16th birthday I applied for a one-time Audience. The Ministry approved it in a few weeks, and after a short bus ride I stood in front of the massive double doors that led to the chamber where the AI was effectively housed.
I reached a shaky hand into my pocket and looked for the hundredth time at the scribbled note of questions to ask it. At the bottom I’d made sure to list the Rules set out by the Ministry:
Know the precise question you wish to ask; the wrong question will get the wrong answer.
Each person is limited to only three questions per visit.
If you have applied for a one-time Audience, and you are currently under 18, you will not be permitted another Audience until your 25th birthday.
I stuffed the note back into my pocket and took a deep breath. Then I pushed open one of the large doors, and entered the chamber.
The housing chamber was not actually where the AI was located. Since its activation, it had branched out and now inhabited the space known as the Network – the fundamental pathway by which the AI moved and worked and did its sorting, by gathering the necessary data and compiling it in its main processing center.
The housing chamber was where its brain was. And at the end of the long, wide room with vaulted ceilings, I saw it. It was a flat, thin screen with a long wave form running horizontally across it. There were no wires to be seen protruding from it. Only a living space of chairs and couches set up in front of it, as if that would make this comfortable.
A small podium with a microphone attached stood closest to the AI. I looked around as I made my way closer to it. The room was decorated with what I assumed was fine, expensive art; a tapestry I’d seen pictures of in my history book was hung on one wall. And at certain intervals all along the wall stood guards, dressed in Ministry attire. I could feel them watching me.
I wondered if the stories about people trying to shut down the AI were true, if the guards were really there to keep that from happening. A quieter part of me wondered if I was about to ask the wrong question.
I reached the living space, but my legs moved mechanically toward the podium. I just wanted to ask and get it over-with. I cleared my throat and tapped the microphone. Nothing happened.
“Press the button on the side of the podium, if you would please,” said a guard standing right by the AI itself.
I jumped; how had I not seen that guard there? I nodded, found the button on the podium, and pressed it. I tapped the microphone again, and I could hear that it was on. Again I cleared my throat.
“Hello?” I asked.
The waveform on the screen moved in time with its voice, like a recording would.
“Hello, Clarence Parks of 57 Sunset View. My records indicate you have requested a one-time Audience, and that you have three questions for me. I trust you have been made aware of the Rules.”
“Yes, I have,” I answered.
“Very well. You may proceed with your first question.”
My mind immediately blanked. I scrambled to get the note out of my pocket again. I thought I saw one of the guards roll their eyes at me, but I pushed that aside and laid out the note on the podium.
“You designated me as Human,” I asked, “why?”
“Because that is your proper role. It is the best outcome for you, based on all my acquired data,” said the AI, “it is a necessary adjustment that must be made every one hundred of your years. My records indicate that this adjustment has not always been beneficial, as those designated have not embraced the role, and so I am trying something new. You are the first to have been designated the role of Human in less than that time.”
I frowned.
“What?” I said.
“That is not one of the questions you have chosen to ask,” the AI said.
“If you know the questions I want to ask, why don’t you just answer them?” I demanded.
“Stick to the ones you applied for,” said the same guard that had told me about the podium button.
Something in their voice gave me an uneasy feeling; this was not advice, it was a warning.
I nodded.
“My second question is: what does the role of Human do?”
“The role of Human is designed to be anything.”
“That doesn’t make any sense!”
“It’s not our fault if you ask the wrong questions, kid!” said the guard.
I tried to keep my frustration from building, but I couldn’t hide it in my voice when I asked my final question:
“If my role is Human, what do I do?”
“You, Clarence Parks, will do whatever you wish.”
“That’s not an answer! You have to answer the-“
“Those are the three questions you wished to ask, Clarence Parks. Your one-time Audience is now complete. Have a nice day.”
The AI’s screen went dim.
My anger bubbled up to the surface like a geyser, and I gripped the podium so hard I thought my nails would leave an indention.
“Your Audience is done,” said the guard, “leave.”
I glared at him and kicked the podium. I ignored the pain in my own foot from kicking the solid wood and turned around. I stomped away and shoved one of the chairs over.
“Hey!” one of the other guards said, “You knock over one more thing and you’ll have an appointment with the Ministry!”
I didn’t care anymore.
I grabbed a pitcher of water from the table and hurled it as hard as I could. It flew a few feet and smashed into pieces on an ornate rug on the floor.
A second later and I felt the wind knocked out of me as a guard tackled me to the ground. I didn’t struggle, I just let my anger simmer inside me. The guard fitted me with a pair of thin handcuffs and pulled me to my feet.
“Alright, kid,” said the guard, “maybe a nice long talk with the Ministry will sort you out.”
The guard led me out of the room and pushed open one of the double doors to the outside world. Just across the street, the domed roof of the Ministry gleamed at me in the sunlight.
Wallflower Showcase 