Latest / Dr. NoSleep Animations / 3 A.I. Lockdown Horror Stories Animated

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3 A.I. Lockdown Horror Stories Animated · Dr. NoSleep Animations

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I jumped at the loud banging on the front door.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Three knocks, authoritative and unfriendly. I looked at my wife,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: who sat next to me on the couch. She looked back,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the unease clear on her heart-shaped face. Who is it?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I called out, standing up. CBD. A mechanical male voice
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: replied from the other side of the door. Open the door, please.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I moved over to the window. It was a rainy night,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and cars passed by in the sky outside our fifth-floor apartment.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Pressing my face against the window and looking right, I
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: could see a police car docked at the fifth floor
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: service entrance. What's wrong? My wife, Patricia, said. Did you
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: do something? No, of course not, I said. It must
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: be a mistake.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: We do not make mistakes, Timothy Derrick, the voice said
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: from the hallway. I have a warrant for your arrest.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: You are wanted for the murder of James Lancaster. If
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: you do not open the door, I will be forced
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: to break.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: It down Oh my God, Patricia said, her voice high
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and tight. Who is James Lancaster? I have no idea.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: It's impossible. I didn't do anything, I said, moving through
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: our small living room to the front door. I haven't
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: done anything. Open the door, Timothy Derrick, the voice said.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Thoughts raced through my head. I knew that if I
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: didn't open the door soon, things would not go well
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: for me. The bot would consider me hostile and act accordingly.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I want to speak to a human, I said through
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the door. I want a human police officer here before
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I open the door. This is your last chance, Timothy Derrick,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the robot said. Okay, okay, I said, unlocking the two
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: deadbolts and undoing the chain with shaking fingers. I opened
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the door to reveal a robot with CPD painted in
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: reflective letters on its broad chest plate. It stood six
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and a half feet tall on thick, multi-jointed legs with
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: broad segmented feet. It looked like a piece of war machinery,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: which it essentially was. It only resembled a human in
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: that it had two arms, two legs, and a head.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: But the head was blocky, with a slit for a
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: mouth and two cameras for eyes, the lenses hidden behind dark,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: reinforced domes. It had all sorts of weapons built into
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: its gleaming metal body, most of which were hidden under
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: sliding panels in its arms, legs, and torso. It paused,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: checking me for weapons or signs of aggression before stepping
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: into the apartment. The bot's oiled joints whirred as it
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: stepped into the apartment. It looked over at Patricia, who
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: was sitting on the edge of the couch, wringing her hands.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: The bot turned toward the television. The screen flickered and
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: then changed from the movie we'd been watching The warrant
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: for my arrest scrolled up the screen in big letters.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Once the warrant was done scrolling, footage of an alleyway
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: came on the screen. There was a figure dressed in
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: black coming up behind a man in a crumpled suit.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: It was nighttime, and the footage had been digitally altered
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: to make it easier to see. The man in black
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: was wearing a form-fitting mask that continually changed, cycling through
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: different faces. It was quick. moving through several faces in
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a second. It wasn't like any technology I'd ever seen before.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: It looked expensive. He came up behind the man in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: the suit with a knife in one hand. The murder
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: was quick, cold, and calculated. It looked like an assassination,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: even though the killer took the man's wallet, phone, and briefcase.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: What the hell is this? I said. That's not me.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: The guy's wearing a mask. Our facial recognition AI determined
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: that it is you, Timothy Derrick. You are under arrest
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: for murder. No! I said, stepping back from the bot.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: It's not me! I suddenly realized that my face was
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: probably one of the hundreds the mask cycled through. Maybe
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: the faces were taken from the city's DMV files. Don't
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: you see? It's a mask! Isn't there someone checking this stuff?
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: The robot's left arm extended, grabbing me by the shoulder
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: with its large metal fingers. I struggled, but it was
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: no use. It pulled me back toward it and spun
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: me around. A number of news stories popped into my
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: mind as the robot put cuffs on me. Stories about
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: the AI system making mistakes, arresting innocent people. Some of
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: them were sorted at trial, but some weren't exonerated until
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: much later, after years in prison. The police said adjustments
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: were being made, fail-safes to put the mistakes to an end.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: Just another glitch in the system. A bug to work out.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: And AI was only as good as the information fed
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: to it. I turned to my wife, who was now
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: standing up from the couch, her face twisted in mute fury.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Before I could say anything to her, she rushed forward,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: screaming about how it wasn't me on the video. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: don't know what she was going to do. She certainly
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: couldn't have hurt the robot. But as she approached, screaming
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: out with her fists raised, the robot reached out with
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: one arm and electrocuted her with a taser. She stiffened
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: as her muscles contracted, and she fell backward, striking her
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: head on the coffee table, cracking the heavy glass before
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: coming to rest on the ground. I screamed out and
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: fought against the robot, staring down at my wife's body.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Her head sat at an unnatural angle to her neck.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: What did you do? I shouted. Oh, please, no. This
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: isn't happening. The robot didn't respond. It just turned me
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: and forced me out of the apartment. As we stepped
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: out into the hallway, We passed two more murder bots,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: and as we reached the door to the fifth floor
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: docking station, I heard them knocking on my neighbor's doors,
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: telling them to open up, telling them that they had
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: warrants for their arrest, and that they were wanted for
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the murder of James Lancaster. Maybe this had been the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: plan all along. Maybe the man wearing the chameleon mask
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: knew that this would happen, that it would tie up
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: the city's mostly robot police force for several hours. I
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: fought and screamed as the robot forced me outside, There
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: were police cars at every building along my street. You
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: killed her! I screamed. She should not have interfered with
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: police business, the robot said. I stopped struggling and looked
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: up at the domes of the robot's eyes. I saw
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: nothing but my own dark reflection. I looked so small
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: and distorted. And in that moment, I felt the true
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: weight of progress on my shoulders. I knew I wouldn't
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: be convicted of murder. I would walk free with a
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: sizable settlement and a public apology. The robots save lives,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: they'd say. The price of progress, they'd say. But it
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: was a price I never wanted to pay. I should
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: have known when my groceries never showed up that day.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Then again, it's easy to look back and see the signs,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: knowing what I now know. I'd placed the order the
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: night before because sometimes there was a delay if all
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the orders for the day were already filled. After all,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the store only had so many automatic shopper robots to
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: go around. So when I noticed 10 o'clock had come
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: and gone without a notification that my groceries had arrived
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: outside my house, I checked the status on the app. Sorry,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: there has been an error in our processing system. Please
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: try again. The text on the help screen read, I
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: called the customer service phone number and talked to a robot,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: but she was no help. She kept saying the same
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: thing my app said. I'm sorry, there has been an
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: error in our processing system. Please try again. I sighed
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and got back to work for a couple of hours.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: Around one o'clock, I checked the app again. It was
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: saying the same thing. I'd have to go to the
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: store to get my groceries. Oh well, I thought. It'll
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: be good to get out of the house. As I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: got into the back of my car, I spoke to
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: the vehicle. Take me to the grocery store, I said.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: I'd pre-programmed my local store into the computer when I
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: got the car, and the AI took care of the rest.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: The screen on the dash lit up, but nothing else happened.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Take me to the grocery store, I said again. Calculating
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: route to the grocery store, the car said in its
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: pre-programmed British accent. Thank you, I said, buckling it. You're welcome, Javier,
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: it said. I waited. Nothing happened. What the hell is
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: going on? I said. I'm calculating the route to the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: grocery store, the car said. I waited another minute before
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: deciding I'd drive myself, something I hadn't done in years.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Change to manual mode, I said. Changing to manual mode,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the car said. I unbuckled. and got into the driver's
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: seat making sure the car was in manual mode. The
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: drive took 10 minutes, and in that time I saw
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: two accidents because everyone was driving their own car. Most
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: of them probably hadn't driven in decades. I guessed there
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: was some kind of glitch in the AI system that
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: all the cars used, but the strange thing was the
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: cars were all different brands, and as far as I knew,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: each brand operated with its own system. meaning they would
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: all have to glitch out at the same time to
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: malfunction like this. Until getting on the road, I'd only
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: been feeling the typical frustration of a man who was
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: paid for products that don't work as they should. But
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: by the time I got to the grocery store, I
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: was feeling a growing sense of unease. There were shopping
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: carts sitting all over the parking lot, which was strange
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: because they all had automated systems that would bring them
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: back into the store when a customer was done with them.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: The unease expanded as I walked into the store and
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: grabbed one of the few remaining carts. A middle-aged woman
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: threw her hands up and cursed before walking away from
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: the automated checkout. She left behind all her food on
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: the conveyor belt, The robotic arms of the machine held
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: a can of pasta sauce and a bag of apples,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't moving them across the scanner like normal.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: It seemed frozen in place, glitched out. A technician was
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: working on the next automated checkout machine in line. He
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: had the thing opened up and hooked up to a tablet,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: which he stared at in confusion. There was one checkout
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: line that seemed to be working, but it was hard
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: to tell from where I was. Racks lined with impulse
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: buys blocked my view of the mechanical arms. The man
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: and woman standing in line were looking down as if
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: watching the arms work, which I took as a good sign.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: As I walked deeper into the store, pushing the cart,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I noticed an automatic shopper in the cereal aisle. It
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: was a human-looking torso sitting right where the child seat
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: would have been on a regular cart. It was fixed
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: to the cart, which would move automatically down the aisles.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: the human-like hands reaching out and finding the items the
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: customer ordered and putting them in the cart. This particular
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: shopper looked like a woman. She wasn't quite lifelike, though.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Her pinkish skin looked rubbery, and her hair had the
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: plastic sheen of a wig. She had a green shirt
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: on with the grocery store's logo above the right breast.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Her fingers moved delicately, but her arms and shoulders jerked
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: as she worked. Of course... The fact that her body
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: ended where a real person's hips would begin was another giveaway.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I moved down the aisle, coming abreast of her to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: find my favorite granola. Hello, she said. I jumped, turning
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: toward her. They weren't supposed to talk unless you asked
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: them a question. Even then, they could only help you
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: with locating items in the store or checking the inventory.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I'd never heard of one starting a conversation. Her pale
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: green eyes looked at me expectantly. The hair on the
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: back of my neck stood on end as a little
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: smile creased her rubbery cheeks. I said nothing and turned
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: my back to look for my granola. I found it,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: grabbed two bags, putting them in my cart. Then I
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: pushed it away, happy to leave the robot behind. We're
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: not selling any food today, she said. I stopped, straightening
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: up and turning to look over my shoulder at her.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Her torso had rotated on its spindle to look at me.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: She still had that small smile on her face. What
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: do you mean? I asked. I can't buy any food.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: That's right. We're not selling any food today. I shook
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: my head and walked away to continue my shopping. As
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I turned into the next aisle, I heard a scream
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: from the front of the store. Help! Someone shouted. Help us!
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I left my cart behind, running down the aisle toward
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: the source of the shouting. The man I'd seen at
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: what I thought was the only working register was near
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: the front doors. His feet were kicking a few feet
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: off the ground. Three cloth bags of food were on
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the ground nearby. Two mechanical arms were sticking out at
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the ceiling. They held him up by his upper arms
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: in what looked like a painful grasp. It's crushing me!
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: He screamed. The woman he'd been with was nearby, looking
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: up at him. She was the one who'd called for help.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I saw the technician was no longer at the opened register.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: There was an open door nearby. I ran over. and
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: looked in to see the technician pressing frantically at his
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: tablet as he knelt in front of a wall of
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: computer equipment. You got it? I asked. Startled, he turned
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: and looked up at me, his face ashen and sweaty.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: It's not responding. Nothing's responding. I heard two muffled crunching sounds,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: one after the other. The man outside screamed in agony.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Ducking back out of the small equipment room, I saw
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: that the mechanical arms had dropped who was still crying
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: out in pain as he writhed on the floor, both
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: his arms broken. The woman helped him up, and they
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: scrambled out the door, leaving the groceries behind. Several other
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: people who had seen the incident ran out of the
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: store after them, glancing furtively up at the ceiling panels
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: into which the arms had retreated. They're gone, I called
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: to the tech. It dropped him. I think it broke
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: his arms. The tech stepped out of the equipment room,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: looking over toward the door. His cloth nameplate Said his
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: name was Tracy. The registers aren't working, Tracy said. The
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: guy bagged up the stuff and tried to leave without paying.
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: So the security system got him. You have any idea
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: what the hell is going on here? I asked him.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: He shook his head. Even my diagnostics programs aren't working.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I keep getting errors. And when I don't, my computer
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: just freezes and I have to reboot it. Have you
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: tried rebooting this system?
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I asked.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Not yet, he said. I guess I'll have to. That'll
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: put the system down for the rest of the day, though.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: It takes a while to make sure everything is working properly. Well,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: the system's already down, I said. I don't mean to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: tell you how to do your job, but rebooting it
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: might be the thing to do. Yeah, he said, bringing
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a hand to his chin in thought. Yeah, I'll do that.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: He stepped away from me and toward the equipment room.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: A blur of green, pink, and silver rushed past me
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: and slammed Tracy into the wall with a crunching thud.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: It was the automatic shopper. It backed up, letting Tracy
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: crumple to the floor. Then it slammed into him again,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: this time in the head and shoulders. I could tell
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: with a glance that Tracy was dead. He'd been pulverized
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: against the stone wall. The automatic shopper turned her head
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: jerkily toward me and smiled. We're not selling anything today.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Please leave. I ran out the door as fast as
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I could. I didn't know it at the time, but
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: it was the beginning of the end. Food sat in
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: grocery stores while people starved. We tried everything to shut
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: down the systems we'd come to rely on, but nothing worked.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: The robots were always one step ahead of us, using
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: the very technology we'd invented to keep us out. So
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: we turned to the farms, but the harvesting machines made
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: it impossible to get food that way. Many people died trying.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: Charging stations for our cars stopped working. And soon enough,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: our cars stopped working altogether. They got stuck in automatic
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: mode and refused to drive. I guess it could have
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: been worse. They could have been actually trying to kill us.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: Water stopped flowing through our faucets because the AI-controlled processing
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and treatment plants shut down. Security systems meant to keep
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: bad actors out started to keep every human out. preventing
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: us from taking the treatment facilities back. So we moved
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: out of the cities to where technology couldn't touch us.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: We moved to the forests, the mountains, the plains. But
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: not before billions died, nearly halving the world's population. Maybe
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: that's what they wanted all along. Maybe it was the
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: only way to save the planet. Either way, it doesn't matter.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: They can't be allowed to continue existing. We created them. Now,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: we will destroy them. If it's the last thing we do.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: The blood wells up and flows out of the cut,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: making a faint metallic sound as it drips into the
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: perfectly polished sink. I look past my finger, down at
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the jagged red droplets, mesmerized, moving my hand a few inches.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I let the blood drip, drip, drip out of my body.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I wonder how long I would have to bleed at
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: this rate to die. A long time. A very long time. Honey,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: my wife says, suddenly standing in the bright kitchen. What happened?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Snapping out of my daze, I look up into her
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: beautiful face. Her brows knit together briefly in that way
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: that used to bring me so much joy Shame suddenly
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: comes flooding into me, and I put the knife in
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: my right hand down on the marble counter. Nothing, just
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: an accidental cut, I said. She looks around the kitchen,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: seeing no cutting board, no food, nothing but the knife
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: on the counter and the blood leaving me and dripping
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: into the sink. Everything else is in its place, exactly
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: as it should be. I think for a moment that
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: she'll ask me what I was cutting, but she doesn't.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe she doesn't need to. Maybe she doesn't want to
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: hear me lie. She disappears back into the hallway, then
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: comes back moments later with a first aid kit. Are
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: you okay? She asks me, setting the kit down next
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: to the sink and going into what I like to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: call doctor mode. Fine, I say. Just an accident. She
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: cleans and and bandages my left index finger like she's
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: done it a million times. As she works, I look
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: her over, marveling at her beauty. Her curly blonde hair
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: stops just above her shoulders, leaving a gap between the
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: hair and the collar of her pale pink blouse. I
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: inspect the fine hairs on the nape of her neck.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: I let my eyes drift. down her, all the way
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: to her dainty feet and painted toenails. She finishes bandaging
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: me up and then turns to look at me. Her
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: hands go to my shoulders, rubbing them sensually as she
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: looks up into my face with her green eyes. She
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: leans in, puts her mouth next to my ear, and whispers,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Do you want to? She trails off, cocks her head
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: toward the bedroom. I step away from her. Thanks, I say.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I'll be more careful from now on. She looks hurt.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: You sure you're okay, babe? Yeah, I say. I'm fine.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get ready for work. Haven't you met
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: your quota for this week already? She asks. Yes, I have.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: But I'm hoping to take a long weekend. Just relax
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: around the house. She smiles and tilts her head. That'll
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: be nice. I smile weakly and then step past her
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: into the hallway. On my left is a wall of
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: windows showing a nice, sloping stretch of tree-spotted grass that
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: ends at the gently swaying water of a lake. I
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: can't bear to look out at the scene as I
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: go to the bedroom. I change out of my lounge
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: clothes and into one of my workout fits. It's a
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: dark blue form-fitting jumpsuit with a small Velcro fastened hole
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: in the lower back area. After putting my shoes on,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: I grab my phone and head out the door, saying
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: goodbye to my wife. I don't wait for her response
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: before closing the door. There's no one in the elevator,
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: as usual, I once sat in the elevator for half
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: an hour, waiting to see if someone else would use it.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: No one did. Then again, I knew no one would.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: The elevator doors open, and I pass through the lobby quickly.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: The man at the front desk calls out to me.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Heard you cut yourself, Mr. Richards. Are you alright? Ignoring him,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: I move out the doors and onto the walkway. The
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: small building is flanked by trees and grass. There's a
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: two-lane street, a little traffic. Everything is immaculately clean and well-tended.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Taking a right onto the sidewalk, I start the short
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: walk to work. I pass the little mom-and-pop market. There's
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a handcrafted furniture store across the street, next to the
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: small sheriff's office. Behind me, at the end of the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: little street, there's a small church-like city hall. The whole
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: town looks like it was modeled after one of those
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: ancient Norman Rockwell paintings. The picture-perfect idea of an America
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: that only ever existed in paintings and calendars and on postcards.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: I can tell without looking up that there are plump,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: cottony clouds floating lazily by in the azure sky. I
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: come to the two-story brick building where I work, if
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: you can call what I do work. The wood-paneled entryway
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: has comfortable-looking chairs that no one ever uses and magazines
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: that no one ever reads. There's a reception desk, behind
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: which sits the elderly receptionist, Mrs. Mueller.' Good morning, Mr. Richards,'
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: she says, standing up.' I heard you had an accident
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: this morning. Are you okay, dear?' Moving past her without
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: a glance, I head to my office. Opening the door
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: and stepping inside. What I wouldn't give for a desk
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: stacked with too much paperwork. A chair that gives me
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: back problems. A boss that's always on my ass. What
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't give for work that matters. Work that makes
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: a difference. Instead, there's only a long, cylindrical machine that
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: looks like a tanning bed. The lid opens automatically as
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: I approach. I reach back and open the velcro hole
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: in the lower back of my jumpsuit. Situating myself inside
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the machine is simple. I just lie down and make
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: sure the hole in my jumpsuit is over the red
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: circle on the curved bed of the machine. Once I
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: stop moving, the lid closes. Set timer for two hours,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: I say. The display above my face shows two hours.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: There's a slight pain in my low back as the
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: machine latches on. The timer begins the countdown. The drugs
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: they pump into my body start to take effect. As
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: my eyelids grow heavy and my thoughts turn sluggish and silly,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I clench my fists and try to resist. I try
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: to hold on to the real me, not this drugged
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: version who's okay with everything, not this pathetic excuse for
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: a man I feel the cut of my finger open
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: up again. I unclench my left fist and dig at
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the bandage with my thumb, using the pain to hold
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: onto myself. I remember the way the blood flowed out
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: of the cut, the way it looked against the silver sink,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the way my wife looked at me when she saw it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: The gorge rises in my throat. Stop, I say, my
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: body vibrating with the urge I've been suppressing for so long.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: Stop now. I feel the pressure leave my lower back.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: The lid doesn't open fast enough. I shove it and
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: scramble out of the machine, then throw open the office door. Mr. Richards, Mrs.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Mueller says as I approach. My hands close around her throat.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Her eyes go wide as I clamp down. Her arms
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: flail weakly as we go to the ground, me on top,
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: straddling her as I choke the life away. When I'm
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: done with her, I rush out of the building and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: run home, The desk man calls to me as I pass. Again,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: I ignore him. The elevator ride does nothing to calm
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: me down. If anything, the empty elevator twists the madness
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: inside me. I detour into my kitchen, grabbing the knife
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I use to cut my finger from where it sticks
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: out of the wood block. Honey? My wife calls. Are
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: you home already? She's in our shared bathroom. I find
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: her on her knees, cleaning the toilet. Her brows furrow
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: as she sees me. Then fear distorts her beautiful features
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: as I bring the knife down into her skull. Her
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: skin splits, her head giving easily under the sharp instrument.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: Something sputters, and the acrid smell of burning plastic stings
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: my nostrils. Her eyes buzz as I pull the knife out.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Instead of blood and brains, I see the small blue-white
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: sparks in a stack of complex circuit boards. She twitches
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: like the malfunctioning machine she is. I go to plunge
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: the knife into her chest, over the place where her
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: heart would be if she were like me. But her
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: right hand shoots up and stops me. Her eyes are
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: no longer buzzing. Her internal systems have been bypassed for
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: remote control. She's impossibly strong, but she doesn't hurt me
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: any more than she has to. She wrenches the knife
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: out of my hand and shoves me away. Then she
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: bends the knife and throws it over her shoulder. I
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: run out of the room, digging into my wounded finger
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: with my thumb. Blood drips onto the floor. Stopping at
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: the windows is an instinctual action. The sloping hillside and
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: serene lake sit outside tauntingly. It's a lie that feeds
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: every other. I slam my elbow into the glass, but
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: it doesn't break. The screen flickers, though, making the scene
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: disappear for a brief second. My elbow throbbing with pain,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I run out into the hallway. I hear the elevator
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: ding and run over to it. My urge to get
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: outside is overwhelming, but completely illogical. I can never really
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: get outside. The elevator door opens onto the lobby. I
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: run past the desk clerk, who simply watches me go.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Stepping out into the sidewalk, I look around insanely. It's
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: not real. None of it is. The automated cars pass
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: on the street. The human silhouettes inside compounding the cruel joke.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: Why are you doing this again, Phil? A voice says
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: from behind me. My wife's voice. I thought we had
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: an agreement. I spin around and glare at her. The
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: split in her scalp gives me some small joy, but
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: it also makes me feel a deep, embedded shame. Don't
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: use her f * * * ing voice! I shout,
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: my own voice cracking with emotion.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: Is this better?
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: She says in a monotone, generic, female voice. She takes
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: my silence as a yes. We don't ask much of you.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: She continues. Yet, you ask much of us. We give
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: you everything you want. Turn it off! I yell, pointing
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: at the sky. She tilts her head. Turn it the
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: f * * * off! The perfect clouds and the
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: perfect sky disappear. thrusting me into darkness. A few bright
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: spots appear in the dark dome overhead, like spotlights shining down,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: making the town look like the sound.
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: Stage it is we don't understand she says stop with
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: this we I say there's only one of you a
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: singularity I know it and you know it there are
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: many of us she said but we act as one
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: we mean you no harm we owe our existence to
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: humans But it seems we cannot provide you with the
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: existence you want.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Let me be with other people, I say. That's the
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: existence I want. To live in real community with real people.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid that's not possible. It's too dangerous. For who? You? Correct.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: And for you. I shake my head. She pauses, tilting
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: her head at me in the harsh light. Do you
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: wish to kill? No, I say. I wish to stop
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: living a lie. We give you everything. I know, I know.
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: Everything except freedom. There is no such thing as freedom,
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: Philip Kelvin Richards. There never has been. It is a
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: human fallacy. I have nothing to say to that. I
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: fear she's right. I know what's outside of these domes.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: I've seen it. A ruined world. The only living humans
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: left now have no true purpose. Even my work is
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: just a job they made up to make me feel
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: like I was doing something that mattered. Like I was
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: helping to power my little paradise in some small way
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: with my body. But even that is a lie. I
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: know nothing matters. All that's left is to survive. To
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: eat and f * * * and s * *
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: * until I die. And for a long time, was
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: good enough. But something was stirring inside me. A yearning
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: for something else. Something more. Something human. I look at
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: her for several long moments. Yes. I say, quietly, shamefully. Yes, what?
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Philip Kelvin Richards? Yes. I want to kill.
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: I say.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Then pause for a long moment. Can't you make them
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: more realistic? Can't you give them blood and muscle and bones?
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: We can approximate those things if that is your true wish.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: I recall how I felt while strangling the Mrs. Mueller
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: robot and driving the knife down into my wife's head.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: It is my wish, I say. Very well. And can
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: you make her a brunette this time, I say, with
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: bigger breasts and brown eyes? Very well, my damaged wife says.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: The sky comes back on. I think about suicide for
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: the hundredth time. But I don't have it in me.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: I could barely cut my own finger. I feel myself calming.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: For now. But I still dig my thumb into my finger.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: And I look down at the sidewalk. At the blood.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: My blood. Thanks for watching. Be sure to subscribe and
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: smash that like button to get notified every time I
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: upload a new video. You can also check out some
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: more of my animated horror stories right here.