Trust Machines: Rescue

Angela Smith didn't expect to be put in a position to convince yet another person that life was worth living.

This is a Trust Machines story.  It'll make more sense if you are familiar with the Trust Machines universe.  https://www.deviantart.com/trust-machines

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I was moping around the locally iconic Rock Rapids Bridge when I noticed a shiny new Mercedes parked in the commuter lot.  A figure was climbing over the safety rail of the bridge, staring at the boiling rapids below.

I pressed a button on my cell phone, which started an app that is designed to record encounters with the police or other officials and store them safely on the cloud -- a CYA app.

I quickly and silently jogged to the place where he had climbed the guard rail and onto the girders.  Once I got there, I intentionally made just a little noise so that I wouldn't startle him.

"You know, a fall isn't likely to kill you, but it'll hurt like hell.  You might even break your neck and have to have someone spoon feed you and wipe your ass for the rest of your life."

He spun and looked at me angrily.  Then, he deflated.

"Come on, Alexander.  Let's get out of here before someone calls the cops.  You don't want to have to listen to their platitudes, do you?  They'll try to talk you down, then ship you off to the funny farm."

I was really surprised to see Alexander Bentley, the golden boy of my class, looking down into the foamy rapids.

Alexander Bentley, scion of his great grandfather's business empire, straight A student, valedictorian, varsity letter man, and all over perfect child born with a golden spoon in his mouth.  Not to mention the quintessential rich boy and the most eligible bachelor in the area.

And actually, a very nice person.

"What do you know about it, Angie?" he asked angrily.  "And I'm sure that you called the cops already."

I shook my head.  "No.  Whatever has you down is bad, but being under suicide watch truly sucks.  Believe me on this."

"Maybe jumping is better..."

I shook my head.  "They'll drag your broken body out of the rocks.  Then, if you survive, you'll still go to the funny farm.  But they won't have to work so hard to keep you from offing yourself if you can't move anything but your mouth."

He started to climb to me.  "Suicide watch?"

"Yeah.  Suicide watch.  Like, no privacy, even in the toilet or your bedroom.  No fapping, unless unless you want an audience."

"The voice of experience?"

I shook my head.  "Not my experience, but it was bad for my cousin.  It took forever, but my aunt and uncle finally let me hang out with him without a babysitter."  I sighed.  "They talked one of my teachers into assigning a research paper about doctor Jack Kevorkian.  Doctor Death helped patients commit suicide, and ended up going to jail for it.  I think it was a not so subtle hint."

When he got to the walkway, I took his hand.  He was shaking.  "How is your cousin now?" he asked.

I smiled.  "He's living quite happily.  He claims that the Venn Machines cured him.  People are constantly debating about whether or not Trust Machines actually cure mental illness, but it doesn't matter to me.  What matters to me that he got his life back -- whether it was by using a 'perfect health' Venn, or simply making his situation better."

He shook his head.  "I don't think the machine will help me, unless it can somehow free me from my family's expectations."

He scowled when we got to his car.  "My keys are locked inside.  My wallet and phone, too."

We heard a faint distant siren and saw some red and blue flashes way upstream and across the river.  The flashes got closer, then cut off.

"I think that's our cue to bail," I said.  "I know the trails like the back of my hand.  I go there when I need a quiet place to sit and think."  I took his hand and led him across the road and into the woods.  He followed me without comment -- not something that one would expect from the oh so confident Bentley scion.  We silently walked deeper into the woods.

"A burden shared is a burden halved," I hinted.

He sighed and told me about his family life.  They care for each other, but unconditional love doesn't seem to be a family value.  High performance and high expectations are what they are all about.  Competition is encouraged, but not to the detriment of each other or the family.  Teamwork makes everyone wealthy.  Competition makes everyone stronger.  Bentleys don't complain.  Bentleys fix things.  Bentleys work together to build a better life for themselves.

Part of working together is learning how the business world works, and how to build the Bentley empire.  They have Alexander's college all planned out.  They have a wife picked out for him.  They have his life all planned out.

"What do you want to study?" I asked.

"Science and engineering," he said proudly.  "That is the future.  But Dad says that we can hire all the talent we want.  I need to learn how to control our knowledge workers.  And he doesn't listen when I tell him that I can work with them better if I understand them better."

"Perhaps he needs to think about Thomas Edison and Elon Musk," I commented.

"Yes!  I tried to tell him that, but he is so sure of his own business sense that he won't listen.  He wants me to be a leader, but he doesn't want to even consider that I might have some ideas of my own!"

We walked to a large tree in a small clearing that I had discovered several years ago.  I helped him up on to the low branches, then higher into the tree.

"You know, Mom and Dad never let me climb trees as a kid.  They said that it is dangerous and for the lower class."

I shrugged.  "There are courtly kings that are pampered from birth, and there are warrior kings.  Maybe you can ask your great grandpa what he used to do as a child."

"He was a poor farmer," Alexander replied.

We found a couple of vertical branches that we could lean against and chat while facing each other.

He told  me more about his family life.  I told him about mine, and about my cousin.  We saw some similarities between the bullying that my cousin had received, and his crushing family expectations.

We talked about the scholarships that we both had received, and about his family's attitude about his scholarships -- that he should refuse them all because his family has it all taken care of and will see to it that he gets the proper type of education.  He is expected to take two three-month semesters per year, and spend the other six months working various parts of the family businesses.  We had to admit that it was actually a good plan.  That is, it would be good if he could take the classes that fired his passion.

I had helped my cousin escape from hyper surveillance, then venn to a form that was him, but idealized; and very difficult to hurt.  That stopped the bullying.  I often wonder if he would have been saved all that pain if Venn Machines had arrived sooner.

My cousin had actually considered asking me to venn him inanimate and hide him.  That would be kinda like a temporary suicide that would leave him alive and healthy after a year or so of thinking things over.

We eventually hopped down and walked the narrower trails that led to the old strip mall that was valiantly trying to leverage its one Venn Machine to increase customer draw.  Alexander had some good ideas.  His father would be proud if he would actually listen to his son instead of criticizing and making demands.

We discussed a number of ideas for relieving his situation and sending a strong message to his family.  He had to admit that his situation would actually make most of the school turn green with envy.  But he craved freedom and self direction.  He had no problem with the idea of standing on the shoulders of predecessors, but the idea of just being a cog in the family machine controlled by his father made him feel squashed and empty.

I picked up a smooth pebble shortly before we left the woods and walked toward the machine.  I handed it to him.  He dropped it into the Venn Machine's slot and set it for one year.

"Alexander!  Come here immediately!" his father said while getting out of his Rolls Royce.

We both walked into the machines and the door openings disappeared.

I pointed to my cell phone.  "I'm recording for CYA purposes.  I don't want to face off against your family's army of lawyers."

He grinned.  "Give the entire recording to my family.  Tell them that you will release it to the pubic if they try anything funny."

He asked me to turn on the video, and faced my phone.  "Mom, Dad.  I went into the Venn Machine of my own free will.  I asked Angela Smith to venn me.  I absolve her of all liability for whatever happens.  I am doing this of my own choice.  If you attempt to cause her harm, I will disown you.  After my Venn expires, I will choose one or more of the scholarships that I have earned, or maybe I will accept your help if you allow me to follow my own path and build my own business, perhaps with your wise advice, but without your control."

While he was making his speech to his parents, I was busily working on the interface.  I told him in clear terms what I had done.

He repeated what I had said, and told me that he understands that he will transformed irrecoverably for a year.

"Hit me."

I pressed the green circle.

When the door openings reappeared, a cloud of tiger swallowtail, black swallowtail, and monarch butterflies briefly filled the sky, then dispersed.

My phone beeped, indicating that everything that I had recorded was safely sent to the cloud, and to my home desktop computer.

Alexander's father, red in the face, pointed at me and ordered the police officer to arrest me.

"I'm sorry, sir.  We can only do that if there is some indication that he was coerced into the machine.  We'll be sure to check the surveillance footage to ensure that that didn't happen."

I smiled at the officer.  "I can send you the entire recording of what happened."

I turned to mister Bentley.  "Alexander wants you to have a copy, too."

* * * * *

I sat at the now thriving strip mall, looking at my phone.  The Vapp application was counting down, letting me know when to expect Alexander to reappear.  I might be disappointed, but my friends on the Venn Machine social media forums agree that he will most likely appear in the machine that we had originally used.

He didn't appear in the exact machine that we had originally used, but one of the newer ones that had started appearing once the mall's business started to improve.

He looked kinda dazed as he walked out of the machine, but rapidly recovered.  He was glowing with health, and his clothing was clean and fresh.  There was no trace of the smudges and scuffs that came from climbing the bridge, traipsing through the forest, and climbing the tree.

I smiled and gave him a tight hug.  He briefly looked confused, but then smiled and hugged me back.  We walked to his family, who looked somewhat embarrassed, but welcomed him warmly.

* * * * *

We were sitting at a candle lit table, getting ready to enjoy a meal that mister Bentley had bought for us.

"I wish I could have seen my father's face after he got done listening to that recording."

I smirked.  "Your mom says that he looked like he bit into something sour.  He brooded for days."

"I still have a hard time believing that he not only left you alone, but added to your scholarship and offered you a co-op job with the company.  And he's so much more loving now."

"He tells me that he can't possibly repay me for saving your life.  From what his employees tell me, he has started to appreciate them more.  Word has gotten out, too.  His headhunters are bringing in higher quality recruits."

Alexander chuckled.  "We are having a nice dinner, and we still can't stop talking business,"

I looked down.  "Sorry."

He touched his finger under my chin and lifted my face to his.  "You have nothing to be sorry about.  I don't hate business.  I just didn't like the way that Dad rammed it down my throat."  He chuckled.  "Besides, while floating on the breeze for some weeks is interesting, spending the rest of the year participating in the water cycle and the carbon cycle is incredibly boring.  I did a lot of sleeping.

After an excellent meal and even better conversation, he signed the ticket and left a cash tip.  His father had started doing that a some months ago for the sake of the waitresses.

After he pulled into my parents' driveway, he got out and opened the door for me.

"You know, after growing up in my family, it took you to make me appreciate something as simple as a hug.  And, in the time dispersed about the earth, it was your hug that I missed."

He gave me another warm hug and a gentle kiss, which I gladly accepted.

"I had a really good time," he said.  "That one was on Dad.  Would you like to dine with me again, and maybe find something else fun to do?"

"You mean like a date?  A freshman is asking me out on a date?" I said with a smirk.  Before his face could fall, I wrapped him in a hug again.  "I'de love to!"

* * * * *

I walked from my luxurious private dorm room to the science building, where I met Alexander.  We had managed to schedule couple of electives together.

Because of his year off, he was a year behind me.  Actually, because of my co-op job, he was only two semesters behind me.  But we made a plan.  He decided to only work for his dad for only one semester instead of two, and I added some electives.  By the middle of our sophomore year, our schedules were synchronized.  That doesn't mean that we took all of our classes together, but we were able to do a lot of studying together.

We graduated together.

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I blatantly stole the butterfly idea from dkfenger.  https://www.deviantart.com/dkfenger