My King, My Coma Patient

ping my voice even. I ha

"He'll see you, but don't expect much.

fe, how easily she'd won his favor, ho

omeone who understood his greatness, not

d to hurt. I let them glan

Aiden. He wasn't a king then, h

shb

. Lines of code scrolled

hing. "Another personality matrix c

d. "Let me

a vaguely human shape made of static and broken l

Make it

feeding him data, stories, my own memories. I show

ed of deletion

ynthesized voice would

for his sanity. I taught him about art, about

ilized. He learned. He began t

e, his creato

intense, almo

ate hope. If I could build this AI, make him stable, maybe I could understand the complexities of the human mind,

se I told him my name, Sarah, meant

Flas

rand festival. I'm helping him with all th

ion requirements for the Show, get a small pay

urst open. A panicked

e with the fountain in the Sun

a at his heels. He b

," he co

the Sunken Garden. Water wa

ate mechanism. Nova fussed beside

uld just turn i

ion. He was patient with her, his voice calm as

things went wrong in the beta. Impatient,

shb

xels. "It's not working! You said this

" I said, my voice calm despite the tremor in my

e if I can't control this!" He slammed a d

, though he didn't breat

w, open wound. "You won't leave

ing. Because I knew, even then, that the beta

I didn't tell him t

while, Aiden. A long pr

k?" he asked, his vo

can't

tated, flatly. The pain in h

like that. It'

hut himself down, retreating in

Flas

in with a few precise

nes on the pathway shifted.

effortlessly. "C

is eyes met min

not a question. "The audience is co

d. Just