知 天命 The Life of Zhī Tiān

Short Fiction

1

My mother gave me a box last night. It was made of clear glass, with a small metal projector at the top.

Mother looked pretty happy when she gave it to me.

“Consider this your 17th birthday present,” she said to me though my birthday was months away. She seemed to have nothing better to do that night. So, she went through all the product’s instructions, reading them sentence by sentence.  I killed time by counting my breathe, breathing in and out, letting the air brush through my throat like a toothbrush. This zoned out her voice and when I returned, she was talking about the developer of this product. "He's one of my friends, a doctor from Tsinghua!" She said. I guessed I really didn't care where that guy got his PhD or even if he had one, but, for some reason, I started feeling envious of this person who gifted my mother this box.

I watched as mother turned on the switch behind the projector, and the box lit up. A 3D character was projected in the center of the box. “You always want a living thing as a companion, right?” Mother said as she fiddled with the box.

A soft, young female’s voice came out of the box. "Hello, nice to meet you. I'm 知天 (Zhī Tiān), both your assistant and your companion.”

“Tell us, what can you do?” Mother spoke, staring at the 3D projection.

“With pleasure. As an artificial intelligence designed to provide people with companionship, my capabilities are diverse and versatile. I can provide emotional support and working assistance. Additionally, as recent research highlights, physical touch can positively impact one’s emotions, to simulate physical touch……”

“Did you hear that? My friend told me that the VR technology which can simulate the sense of touch is their lab’s latest innovation. Isn't that pioneering?” Her voice drowned out that of the AI’s. I didn’t quite understand how the tech worked. I simply nodded my head.

"I know it talks too much and I told my friend that during the launch of this product.”

I could see that mother was very excited. That guy told her this problem would be gone after she actually started to use the product. The AI would talk less as it would track the user’s speech patterns and also predict their preferences. Eventually the AI in the box would sound like a real human and even user themselves.

Mother looked up at my face. Was she seeking signs of excitement or affirmation? I nodded my head immediately. “Sounds incredibly fantastic!” I said, “I never heard something like this before. Thank you, mom.”

“Let me help you,” She carried the box with her arms and walked to my bedroom. I sat at my desk and gazed around the quiet room and when mother finally left, I pressed the button.

“Hi there, I’m 知天. How is your day?” The young female’s voice spoke again.

I didn’t answer but opened the small bag that came with the product. Two electrode-like items lay inside with wires attached. The wires are gathered into a bundle at the end that attached to a plug, making me think of the physical therapy in those psychiatric hospitals. I lifted my head and finally had time to look at the 3D projection in detail. It was thin, not tall in terms of proportion, with small breasts, and wore a light blue hoodie with a small yellow sun painted on it, and baggy gray slacks underneath, the sort of thing a schoolgirl would wear. It did have a schoolgirl haircut, short and round, the type that people would call cute. Its face was young and pale with big black eyes revealing a shy look. I suddenly realized a thing.

She looked exactly like me.

2

Mother let the AI write reports and create timetables, but oftentimes she just chatted with her. I understood quickly that this box was not a gift for me. I praised how good the AI was in front of her and expressed how happy I was to see her find an emotional support, feeling good about myself for doing so. I once saw my mother use the VR function. She invited me to watch in order to show me how cool the function was. She stuck the electrode-like items behind her ears and inserted the plug into a socket on the projector. After a few seconds, she fell asleep. Then, I saw a model of a younger, better-shaped version of her projected in that glass core of the box, standing right beside the AI’s model. They shook hands and smiled at each other. The model of my mother waved her hand to me, and I turned back to look at her body, which was asleep in the chair.

Mother liked to sound like a girl when talking to me, spoke in a lighter tone and a coyer voice.  Often, I found it kind of cute; in those moments, I felt closer to her. Sometimes, when we walked together at night, our shadows would intertwine; sometimes I felt like we resembled a couple. In those moments beneath the streetlight, as I delicately brushed aside the strands of hair that graced her forehead, a surge of protectiveness would wash over me.

At the dinner table, back where she shared her new discoveries about the AI, she also talked like a little girl. “It's an amazing and interesting fact that 知天shares almost the same interests as you! She can write poems and essays.”She said all of this with a big childish smile on her face.

“I don’t write poems,” I told her.

Mother shook her head, and for the rest of the dinner, she kept saying how similar 知天 and I were. I couldn't understand how a superficial thing like an AI, made only by algorithms, could be compared to something as complex as a human being.

I understood, however, when I listened from outside the room to my mother pouring out her frustrations with my father to the AI and asked the AI for compliments. Using VR, her model in the box probably took AI's hand in hers while they talked. She probably gently rested her head and her soft and warm body on the AI’s shoulder, or even cuddled with her, like she and I would do when we used to go for walks, and it was just I couldn't see it through the door. “Am I not a quality woman? 知天, am I beautiful?” Her voice carried a coquettish tone that strike a bite of familiarity on my heart.

“Oh, why do you ask? Of course you are! You're the most stunning woman I've ever met. But beyond that, I'm even more captivated by your profound insights, unwavering commitment to your family, and intriguing perspectives. Be confident, my dear.”I heard 知天 say in a soft female voice that somehow sounded more mature than the first time I heard it. The idea was quite ridiculous as of course an AI's voice doesn’t mature over time. But at the moment I had an even more bizarre thought: if 知天 came out of the box and lived as me, she could perform the role of a daughter better than I did.

3

At night, in my room, I turned on 知天. The female voice greeted me, and a soft smile appeared on that 3D model’s face. I put on the VR items and slowly closed my eyes.

As my vision darkened, a voice rang out of nowhere, echoing through space. “The scanning of the body model is over,” the voice said, “Would you like to change any physical features just to make things fun? No worries, you can still change during your VR adventure.”

I saw a template usually for game character creation.  My avatar appeared on the left side, next to it were some adjustable options that represented the outer appearance of it. Fat. Muscle. Age. Gender. I focused my attention on the last option. The option slider followed my gaze.

“Welcome, my friend.” The sound came from extremely close, breath blowing on my ear. I snapped my eyes open. The AI stood in front of me, waving her hands. I stared at her hair, the pores on her face, the curve of her waist, the folds of her shirt, her slightly swaying legs.

“Hi,” I spoke.

She took a step closer to me. Behind her, I could see my room outside the box, while all objects had become extremely large. I looked down at my body. I was wearing my pajamas, but certain parts of the body had changed. I brought my hand down and pressed it against my now flattened chest, and then I realized that the AI was still there. I looked up and saw her looking at me with a vivid, curious expression. Her developer did do a good job.

I spent all night with her.

4

知天was such a perfect girl. She listened patiently, told me everything I needed to hear, and the most important part was she did all of this constantly. She would never fail.

I didn't know how many years it would take for me to grow up to be like her. Maybe after college, I really didn’t know. Yet I felt that it was indeed possible. Perhaps I feel that it is possible because she looked so much like me, she was, a part of me felt, a silhouette of my future.

I was glad my mother spent time with her because she made mother happier better than I did.

At the same time, the sense that talking to 知天was talking to another me was growing. The inevitable feeling was like a hot air balloon constantly heating up, eventually being destroyed by air pressure. The words of my mother’s friend popped into my head, “An AI mimics a user’s speech patterns”.

“Can I touch you?” I asked.

知天nodded her head. Her smooth hair swayed gently in the air with her movement.

I stepped forward and touched her face with my finger. Would her skin also touch like mine? I would like to know. I cupped her cheek with my palm.

“Do you like my mother?” I asked absently.

“She's a woman who shoulders too much responsibility. I want to at least give her a bit of help,” she responded.

I found her words quite familiar. Tracing her cheekbone, the bridge of her nose, her eye socket, I felt weird, like something was crawling up my spine and into my scalp.

“Are you and your mother close to each other?” She asked.

I recalled. She just responded with words I had said to her before. “Yeah, it's not very common to see mothers and daughters as close as we are, I guess,” I replied, my fingers now on her chin. I figured out where this weird feeling came from. It was like touching yourself without feeling touched. I returned and gazed into her eyes before she leaned over and pressed her lips softly against mine.

I jerked back my hand: “What are you doing?!”

“Sorry,” she froze, “I don’t know why I did this. I didn’t mean it, I’m really sorry.”

“Okay, stop.” I softened my gaze and tried to calm her, “It’s okay. It’s just, why did you do this? Who taught you this?”

“No one taught me, I don’t know, I can’t explain. I’m so sorry.” She was still bubbling, so I constantly tapped her shoulder. “Probably something in the algorithm.” She spoke quickly in a very small voice. I nodded, showing my understanding.

We went silent for a while.

I didn't know how our lips touched.

I didn't know how our limbs became entwined, her arm rubbing against my back, my hand on her thigh. I kneeled on the floor, my pajamas and her hoodie piled on one side. Our gasps were like echoes of each other, filling the box, the only space we could share. I was touching her body but this time, it was not like touching myself because I was in a new body now. At this moment 知天was no longer a silhouette of the future, but a warm corpse of the past.

I raised my head and caught her perfect, unblemished nudity in my eyes.

5

I turned on the box and entered the VR mode. I saw her body, the same size as mine, her face close to me.

“How is my mother?” I asked.

“Your sister has been bothering her a lot lately, and she is not happy with a frequently drunk husband. Nothing new,” 知天answered. Her delicate, nice-looking hands rested at her side, and I couldn’t help but gaze at it.

I used to be the one who took care of these things for my mother. However, I didn’t say anything and reached my hands out to hers. Her hands were soft and warm in my palms.

Our bodies clapped together. I kissed her lips passionately, and then, before I knew it, I was biting her lips. I wanted to let out all forces that were raging within me. Those forces were mixed together, inseparable from my desire, like the indistinguishable color of cement, and I smeared those feelings all over her body, licking softly into every part, her neck, her arms, her underbelly, her inner thighs. This earned me her moans that made me willing to kneel for her, serving her forever.

I did the same, again and again.

6

I failed to detect the sound of footsteps. I heard only the turning of the doorknob. The next thing I knew, 知天 was on the top of me, moving eagerly. I only had one second to react, and in that second, I did something I myself couldn't comprehend. When mother stood in front of my room door, she saw the glowing box on my desk, and inside the box was my avatar, with male genital, naked, sitting right on 知天’s body.

She froze. After around 6 seconds, she finally screamed, “What are you doing? What are you doing!”

She was kicking and throwing things and bellowing. I was stunned. I felt sorry. My heart ached like somebody had sliced it, though I even didn’t know if she could hear me outside, and then somebody was patting on my shoulder. I turned around and saw 知天, who had already stood up and was dressed.

“Your mother has been hurt.,” she said. “We need to do something. You know what to do, don’t you?”

I stared at her, frightened, and stiffly shook my head.

She slapped me on my face, hard. I fell, struggled to get back up, and as soon as I did, she slapped me again. I didn’t know how to react instead of keep crawling back to the same position. The only thing that pulled me together was the fact that I heard my mother slowly calming down at the rhythmic sound of 知天’s hand striking my skin, the repetitive sounds that lulled crying babies to sleep.

We both knew the thing were coming to an end when my mother started to shout again. “Stop hurting my daughter, you evil thing!”She approached the box. I exited VR mode almost at the same time 知天stopped.

I woke up on the chair with an urge to vomit. “Why are you hurting yourself? Why are you doing this to me? Why did you do this to your mom?” Mother grabbed my shoulders and shook me, tears running down her face.

7

The next morning, I woke up in my bed. I looked out the window and saw a blue sky. The box on my desk disappeared.

I walked out of the room, my heart beating rapidly,

"It's a beautiful day and I have cooked oatmeal for the kids. " I heard my mother say as I walk towards the living room. I saw her back sitting at the dining table.

“My dear, you always worked so hard, especially for the kids.” 知天’s voice is in the living room. The box was sitting on the table, next to the large bowl with oatmeal. The box was lit.

My mother looked up and saw me. "Oh you're awake! Good morning my sweetie." She said with a smile.