Personal Digital Life Assistant

A short story

“Good morning, Harry. It’s 7 in the morning. Time for you to wake up.”

Harry groaned, and rustled in his bed. That morning was particularly cold, and he could hear vaguely the sound of raindrops. “Is it raining outside? Snooze for 15 minutes.” He muttered.

“Yes it is drizzling. Very well. 15 minutes.”

15 minutes later, the voice is heard again, waking Harry up, and this time he really got up, and started his day.

“Alright Sarah, what should I wear today?” asked Harry as he stepped outside the shower and walked towards his wardrobe. He took a casual-looking blue stripped shirt and a plain, sharp white shirt. “The blue one or the white?”

“You have a lunch meeting today and you have a date at 8 PM. I would suggest wearing the pastel violet shirt as it suits all the appointments you have today.”

“Which one is that?”

“This one.”

Harry then saw a red light highlighting the aforementioned shirt. “Ah, perfect. Thanks.” Said Harry, and he continued to get ready. “Order me an Uber, please.”

As he waited for his Uber to arrive, Harry asked for the traffic report and which route he should take today.

“There is more traffic than usual on your usual route because of the rain earlier. I would suggest taking the flyover after Robinson Street and go through Main Street. By my estimation, it would take you 23 minutes to arrive at your office. Your usual route would take 31 minutes.”

Harry looked up at his phone, and the map application was showing the two routes explained by Sarah, his personal digital AI assistant.

“Alright then. Oh, are there any important emails? Have EZ Corp sent their offer yet”

“No. You received 2 promotional emails on your personal account, and 4 email on your work account this morning. None of them are flagged as important. Would you like to read them now?”

“Nah, just delete the ads, and I’ll read the work emails when I get there. Please turn on notifications.”

Harry then heard a small ping sound in his head, and “Notifications are turned on.”

That night, Harry was early for his date. While he waits at the bar, he was listening to his favorite sports podcast,

“..Before we move on to the 2028 draft prospects, I have an exciting news for our podcast listeners! The Osmosis Enhancer X8 is available for early birds pre-order! Upgrade your implant to the latest technology and get better readings on your vitals, better sync with your phone and Digital AI Assistant, and fantastic new features to improve your Augmented Reality experience…”

“Sarah, how much is the X8 early bird price? Should I upgrade my X7?”

“$989 for the entry model. You have been using it only for 8 months. Upgrading now would be unwise as you will only experience small upgrades on the performance. And based on your usage history, you are not using a lot of the augmented reality features, the new features would be something nice to have for you. I suggest you to wait for one or even two upgrades iterations.

“Wow. I thought you’re gonna suggest me to upgrade straight away, since you’re made by Osmosis.”

“My programming and algorithm is designed to maximized the experience of the user, not the balance sheet of the company.”

“Haha right, right, cool.” A young woman with brunette, long hair, wearing a navy dress just entered the restaurant, and Harry glanced over. “That’s her, right? What’s her name again?”

“Mary. Yes, that is your date.”

“Alright I’m gonna go over and say hi. Please bookmark my podcast.”

“My Uber’s here. Thank you, I had a lovely night.” Said Mary as her Uber stopped by.

“Yes, me too.” Harry smiled, and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll call you, yeah?”

“Hopefully soon.” Mary winked, and got in her Uber. Harry waved goodbye as the car drove on.

Harry then asked Sarah to order him a Uber too, but it declined. “The traffic is very bad, and the price surge is very high. You would not want to pay that amount. I suggest you to walk instead. You’re likely to reach home faster by walking than using a car, accounting the waiting time to get one.”

He looked at his phone, and sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. The weather’s good anyway.” He unbuttoned his jacket, and said “Resume podcast please.”

“How far am I from home?” Asked Harry.

“You are approximately 1.1 km away.”

“That close? I never been through this neighborhood before. Didn’t know I can take a shortcut here. 5 years I’ve lived in this city, I think this is the first time I go through here.”

BAM! BAM!

Then, suddenly, he heard a loud noise. It sounded like a gunshot. Two gunshots, to be exact. Harry was stunned and froze for a bit. But then he saw it, a man is lying down across the street on an alley.

He ran to him. The man is bleeding, and there was a pool of blood on the pavement. The man mumbled weakly,

“Help me.. Help..”

Harry, in panic, shouted “HELP! SOMEBODY!” But no one is around, and there’s no sign of any activity around the area. “Shit.. Shit.. What should I do?”

Sarah popped in his head. “You should leave.”

“What?! I cannot just leave him here!”

“I have alerted the authorities. They should arrive approximately in 7 minutes. But you should leave before they arrive. You are a possible eyewitness in a crime, and according to your usage history, this is not something you want on your plate.”

“But.. But.. I can’t just leave him. I need to do something.”

“You have. I have alerted the authorities anonymously and it is best for you to let them handle this. You have a clean record, and currently you are waiting for an offer to be the VP of Business Development in EZ Corp. Your involvement in this incident will only set you back. I suggest you to leave. The authorities should arrive in 6 minutes, and by looking at his vitals, this man should be okay as long as he gets medical help within the next 8 minutes.”

Harry stood up, and heard the sound of ambulance in a distance. “Shit. I guess you’re right.” Then he said to the stranger, “Hang it there, help is on the way. Sorry.” Then he made a run for it.

As Harry got to his apartment, he slammed the door behind him, and just collapsed against the door. He was running out of breath.

“Turn on some music or the TV please. I need to take my mind of things.” Then the TV automatically got turned on, and switched to ESPN. It was showing the highlights of that day’s game. Harry stared at it blankly for a while, got up, and got a can of beer from his fridge.

Then he sat on his couch, took a few gulps of the beer, and stared again at the TV for a minute. Before long, it got his full attention. His favorite team’s highlight came up next, and when he saw that they won, there was a big smile on his face.

“Anyway, Sarah. I had a good time with that Mary. Should I call her for a second date?”

“I suggest not. Based on her social media activity and profile I gathered from many sources, including several dating sites, she would not be an ideal candidate for a long-term relationship.”

“Whoops. That’s too bad..”

“Shall I delete her contact?”

“Nah, keep it. Maybe I’ll call her tomorrow, see if she’s up for some fun.”

The end.