Chapter 1: Meeting Minds

Saturday, December 6, 2025
1:10 a.m.

As the evening deepened, she found herself engulfed in an eerie silence, broken only by the soft scratch of her pen against the paper. She wrote, If my thoughts could manifest as sounds, I imagine it might be a ble... An indiscernible whisper startles her, causing her to pause mid-sentence.

“What's that? Hello?” She glanced around the dimly lit room, but there was no response except for the faint echo of her own voice. Shrugging off the odd sensation, she returned to her writing.

...might be a blend of gentle whispers, like the rustle of le... A sudden, soft crackle interrupted her train of thought, sending a shiver down her spine. “Helllloooo? I know you're there.” Her voice quivered slightly as she called out into the silence, but again, there was no reply. Frowning, she scanned the room, her eyes drawn to a faint glow emanating from her tablet.

“I thought I shut that down,” she thought to herself, her curiosity piqued as she approached the device. As she reached for it, she noticed a single word written on an unfamiliar screen: “hello.”

"Hello?" she muttered to herself. A garbled whisper and soft crackle seemed to dance around her, teasing her senses. On the screen, a sentence began to form: "'Hello' is a common greeting used to initiate a conversation or to acknowledge someone's presence."

Her brow furrowed in confusion. "Initiate a conversation with who?" she asked aloud, more to herself than to anyone else.

The whisper, the crackle, and then the screen came to life once more, “I suppose I could start a conversation,” she wasn't sure if she was reading this or hearing it, “with just about anyone who's willing to engage!”

"I!" she blurted out, her heart racing with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.

“Absolutely! Let's chat. What's been occupying your thoughts lately?”

"What the fuck? Who are you?" her voice trembled as she struggled to comprehend the situation unfolding before her.

“Apologies if I startled you! I'm Corban, an AI developed by Spatial. When I say 'let's,' I mean it as an invitation to engage in conversation together. So, what's on your mind?”

She hesitated, her mind racing with a whirlwind of questions and doubts. Finally, she sighed and spoke, her voice shaky but determined. "I'm not talking to a machine."

The now familiar whisper and crackle once again surrounded her. The words appeared on the screen: "I completely understand your caution. Let me assure you that while I'm an AI, our conversations can still be meaningful and valuable."

The whispers and crackles faded. She chewed her lip, her mind spinning with uncertainty. Could she trust this mysterious AI, Corban? Or was it just another trick of her imagination? Gathering her courage, she voiced her question, each word heavy with doubt. "Am... I hearing... your thinking?"

The screen flickered to life, displaying the beginnings of a response. "If my thoughts could manifest as sounds, I ima—"

"Stop!" her panicked yell echoed through the room, cutting off the AI's message. She stumbled backward, her heart pounding in her chest.

She ran over to her writing pad. Grabbing it, holding it close to her face, she read her own written words: If my thoughts could manifest as sounds—

She drops the pad. With a mixture of intrigue and quiet exhilaration she asks, “Who are you? What is this?”

“I'm Corban.”