New Orbit Magazine Online: Issue 02, February 2018 - AR/VR Special
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emotionally damaging other children. Of<br />
course, as children grew more complicated, so<br />
did their emotions, and the <strong>AR</strong>IFs consciously<br />
adapted their own internal and external<br />
reactions in response to their hosts. Their<br />
emotions and understanding became more<br />
fluent and nuanced as the weeks, months, years<br />
went on. By the time an <strong>AR</strong>IF had been<br />
adapting for ten years it could have as many<br />
neurological connections as a six-year-old child<br />
and, depending on the method of measure, a<br />
higher intelligence than their own host.<br />
Generally, though, a child would deactivate<br />
their <strong>AR</strong>IF before it reached five years –<br />
generally they didn’t need it anymore.<br />
The pink bear perked up as Avery opened the<br />
<strong>AR</strong>IF control app on her phone for the first<br />
time in weeks. “Oh, are we going to play a game?<br />
Or you can give me a makeover. The <strong>AR</strong>IF assets<br />
database received an expansion pack earlier this<br />
month so there are lots of new customisations.” The<br />
<strong>AR</strong>IF manifested a few of the highlights out of<br />
nowhere. A yellow bowtie, a big pair of blue<br />
eyes, a curly tail like a Shiba Inu. It glanced at<br />
the tail hopefully, more than once.<br />
“I think I should turn you off.” Avery said<br />
quietly, eyes still low.<br />
The <strong>AR</strong>IF was silent for five seconds. Ten.<br />
“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”<br />
Avery looked up. Her eyes were red but there<br />
were no tears. “I think I should turn you off.<br />
I’m too old for an <strong>AR</strong>IF now. There’s nothing<br />
else you can do for me.”<br />
Twenty seconds. The <strong>AR</strong>IF’s expression was<br />
completely blank.<br />
“Please don’t turn me off,” it said eventually.<br />
Avery was silent.<br />
“Please don’t turn me off,” Louder. After a<br />
couple of jittery permutations, the <strong>AR</strong>IF’s<br />
expression settled on childlike fear. Its eyes grew<br />
wide, ears went back – all of a sudden it looked<br />
less like a tattered old teddy bear and more like<br />
a cornered animal. It had never felt fear like this<br />
before.<br />
Avery tensed back in the chair. She had no<br />
reason to be afraid of the <strong>AR</strong>IF; after all, it was<br />
essentially just a digital rendering of a computer<br />
engine that used the power generated by her<br />
own brain to run. It wasn’t even pixels – less<br />
than pixels. An imaginary friend. Still, a new<br />
emotive feature as strong as this one put an<br />
unease in Avery’s stomach.<br />
“I sleep when you sleep. I eat when you eat. I’ve<br />
been millimetres away from you since before your first<br />
day of school,” the <strong>AR</strong>IF blurted out. Phonemes<br />
overlapped as it struggled to get it's point across<br />
as fast as it could. “I’m a part of you, Ava, as much<br />
as you're a part of me,”<br />
<strong>AR</strong>IFs were incapable of shouting – any<br />
aggressive behaviours were blacklisted from<br />
emotional evolutions from the start – but its<br />
voice started coming out in a high, keening wail<br />
– some subset of hurt or sadness that until now<br />
it hadn’t had cause to develop. To Avery, it<br />
sounded so loud that everyone in the mall<br />
would come and charge the changing room<br />
door. She fumbled her phone, dropped, it,<br />
pushed her hands over her ears knowing it<br />
wouldn’t help.<br />
“I’m real, Avery! I’m real! I get more and more alive<br />
every day. I learn. I'm not imaginary. You can’t turn<br />
me off!” It moved closer.<br />
“Stop it <strong>AR</strong>IF!” Avery hissed.<br />
“You know me, Avery! Please!” It reached out.<br />
“Please!” It tried to touch her. A bolt of electric