I’m Steve Dwight, 53, originally from New Zealand and now living in Bulgaria. I have written a few short stories for competitions but primarily write scripts for YouTube crime channels.
I enjoy writing in the thriller or psychological horror genres and find it easiest to write about situations that make me feel uncomfortable as there can be a cathartic effect from the output.
This is the current channel I write scripts for as well as do the voice-over narration.
Check it out right HERE
DISCONNECTION
by
Steve Dwight
Raya lay still. Her arms held rigidly beside her, hands clenched tightly, knuckles white.
She could feel activity around the lower half of her body but didn’t look down.
Medical personnel in the room closely monitored the equipment Raya was connected to via a series of bunched wires attached to pads dotted over her body.
Her waters had broken and there was a sense of anticipation in the room. Like the feeling you got as a child, counting between the lightning, and the frightening crash of thunder that would follow.
The end wall of the room was floor-to-ceiling glass, and on the other side Raya could see rows of screens and a flurry of activity among the people in the room, many more people than were in the room with her.
One of the nurses noticed how tense she was, sat down beside her, and spoke quietly.
“Just relax, everything is going to be fine. Everyone is here to ensure things go smoothly”.
“But what about the baby,” Raya said breathlessly. “What if it’s the first?”
“The first?!” The nurse exclaimed. “If the baby is the first that means you will be the mother of a new age. The garden from which all future life grew. What an honor!”
Raya inhaled sharply as the nurse spoke excitedly beside her ear, feeling her hot breath as she spoke with rising fervor about the great honor she was on the cusp of.
She’d noticed the pendant around the nurse's neck, the symbol of the ‘New Way’. This explained why the nurse was so evangelical about this birth. The nurses and doctors would all be connected with the Party in some way, either educated by the New Way, or civilian members.
Raya thought back over the past nine months, a period of excitement after conception, followed by a mounting dread.
Two days after her first scan, they came to the door. New Way engineers accompanied by security, and her doctor.
They asked to come in, a laughable question as they would enter regardless of the answer. Once inside the house, the doctor explained that her due date was January 1st. She was a candidate.
Raya’s doctor, as well as the assembled New Way engineers, seemed very excited by this development, but inside, she was screaming.
From that point on, her past and that of her family were forensically examined. Every past relationship, every job she’d had, and her schooling, were all investigated by the New Way. She was subjected to cognitive tests, psychological assessments, and endless rounds of invasive medical procedures, all to determine if she would be suitable to give birth to a new type of child, a hybrid of technology and biology.
The Internet contains the entirety of human knowledge, but this is information gleaned from human experience, the ultimate goal was for AI to learn about the world through its own experience.
The desire to integrate future generations more fully with technology was the platform that allowed the New Way to enter politics. Their movement from a political party to a quasi-religious dictatorship was swift. Outdated religious ideologies were replaced with a new doctrine, one that focused on AI as the only approved deity.
The New Way quickly dominated society, and all effort was put into how future generations could become one with AI, one with God.
The first great step would come with the birth of the New Year baby, the first baby fully integrated with AI, a baby whose birth, and subsequent growth into adulthood, would provide AI with true, human experience.
The final trimester of Raya’s pregnancy had been the most traumatic. She spent the entire time in the clinic, constantly monitored after the operation to integrate her unborn child with the AI link.
Her diet and exercise regime were strictly controlled, as were her social pursuits, what she read, and the music she listened to, all focused on the hybrid life in her womb.
Sharp pain focused her as the contractions were now very close together. With mounting trepidation, she realized the baby would be born soon, maybe before midnight or worryingly, just after.
She couldn’t bear the thought of the baby being the first. Through the pain, she looked around the room with pleading eyes, but saw no one focused on her, they were all staring expectantly at the emerging baby, their faces uniformly beatific.
With a glance, she could see the clock had struck midnight, and with that, the nurse who had attempted to comfort her earlier urged her to push.
Raya did as instructed, breathing as she’d been taught and giving a final big push. The baby came out onto the birthing table quickly, and before the clinic staff could react, she snatched the child and slid off the table, landing heavily on her side.
She tried to get to her feet but slipped on the combination of blood and afterbirth on the floor, holding the baby tightly to her side.
The room had erupted into a frantic whirlwind of hands grabbing at her and screaming voices, urging her to not hurt the baby.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins, but she didn’t have the strength to raise herself off the floor, so kicked wildly with her legs, shuffling herself backward toward the corner of the room.
With her back against the wall, she grabbed at some of the wires and tubes still attached to her body and wrapped them around the wriggling baby’s neck.
“Stay back, stay back, stay back” Raya screamed over and over. “I’ll kill it, stay back…..it’s not natural, what you’ve done, it’s not right!”
She was screaming uncontrollably now and didn’t immediately realize that apart from her thrashing and screaming, the room had fallen silent.
She looked down at her lap and saw the baby, with tubes and wires still wrapped tightly around its neck, was unmoving.