“Amanda.” I said and dismissed the completed popup window.

“Right away.” Amanda said, then the four inch tall version of herself faded from my shoulder. “Loading it into my buffer.”

“Will it still fit?” I asked. “The details said it was a hell of a lot bigger than before.”

“I... I think... so.” Amanda said.

“Don't struggle with it.” I said. “If it's too much, we can disconnect you and run it independently.”

“No... no, I... I... nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn-”

The sound stopped abruptly, and I thought the worst.

“Amanda? Are you okay?” I asked. Without her body for reference, I couldn't tell what was going on. I opened up a console window and typed up a few commands. I couldn't find anything wrong, and the server seemed intact. I pulled up the stats for it, and saw it was running at peak efficiency. No heat spikes, no hardware failures, nothing. I pushed the window aside and waited a minute more before I spoke.

“AMANDA!”

“J-J-Jack... I... nnnnnnnnnnnnnn-”

“AMANDA! Pull in the backup servers! Cache the bigger files!”

“...nnnnnnnnnneed heeeeeeeeeeellllp...”

I pulled the window back over and called up the backup servers. They weren't out of date, but they weren't top of the line, either. I had intended to replace them several times; but since Amanda always ran so well and I never had any capacity problems while working, I just never got around to doing it.

I typed in some quick and dirty commands to set an outrageous memory buffer for the backup servers, which took up half of their storage capacity, then tied them into Amanda's buffer. I thought I heard her sigh as the buffer spread out to the backup servers, and then a progress window popped up. It filled almost instantly, and then nothing happened.

“Amanda?”

“It's running, Jack.” Amanda said.

“What happened?”

“I don't know.” Amanda said. “It started to load and then... I felt like... I was too small for it.”

I wasn't sure what she meant; but, I didn't ask her about it. I was pretty sure she didn't know what she meant either.

“So it's running, but nothing is happening.” I said.

“Right.”

“Then end it.”

“I can't.”

“What do you mean you can't?”

“It's there, but it's not there.” Amanda said. “I'm trying to end it's processes, but it's not working.”

That made me think about the batch files I had browsed through, and pulled the first one up.

Another Day Batch File

M000: L.I.F.E.Begins.exe command line: /reset:zero /life:3000 /feedback:no /load:day_trip.exe

M001:you_are_done.bat /undo:command line /clear:loaded files

“It can't be that simple.” I said out loud, then ran the you_are_done batch file with the same parameters. Amanda gasped dramatically, and she materialized in front of me.

“Oh! Thank you, Jack!” Amanda said and hugged me. “That thing was a huge memory hog and I slowed down to a crawl.” She said. “I could barely think, or even do any tasks with it running.”

“Then having you try to buffer it was not a good idea.” I said, and she reluctantly nodded.

“Not using the batch file and just loading the main executable wasn't a good idea, either.” Amanda said. “With no parameters set, there was nothing for it to do except run and keep running.”

I nodded reluctantly myself. “Well, there's nothing else we can do with it, except run it like it was meant to be.” I said, typed 'another_day.bat' in the console window, and hit enter. The virtual space around us disappeared and a neighborhood appeared around us. We were standing in a driveway outside a nice suburban house, with a two car garage and a single car in the driveway. I was about to comment on how bad everything looked, and then a popup appeared in front of me.

WELCOME!

This is L.I.F.E. Simulation Version One

Day Trip has been successfully loaded. Please Choose one of the following activities:

Go For A Walk Go For A Drive Go For A Swim End

“Walk.” I said, and nothing happened. “Amanda?”

“I think...” Amanda reached out and touched the 'Go For A Walk' option, and the window disappeared. “That's really antiquated.”

I chuckled and looked around. The graphics were just as outdated as I thought they would be, considering how old the thing was. There were visible faces on the textures and low detailed polygon constructions for all the models. I reached out and touched the car in the driveway and didn't feel anything.

I wonder if that's the feedback option in the batch file? I asked myself.

Amanda reached out and touched it, then ran her hand down the side. “This feels really weird.”

“That's probably because it's old.” I said and took several steps down the driveway and looked back at the house. It was a two storey model in a flat blue color, with white shutters and flat windows that you couldn't see through. “I don't think it's very interactive.”

“Well, we chose the walk option.” Amanda said and she walked around to the front of the car that faced the garage. “Maybe we can only go for a walk.”

I looked down at the ground and saw a faded dotted line that led out of the driveway and down the sidewalk.

“I think you're right.” I said and started to walk down the rest of the driveway to the sidewalk.

“Wait up!” Amanda said, and I stopped to turn and look at her. She jogged around the car and over to me, and I watched her chest bounce several times. “You shouldn't stare at them like that.” She said and blushed, and I shook my head.

“I know you're not embarrassed.” I said and started to walk. “You don't have to pretend.”

“But you like it when I blush.” Amanda said and walked beside me. “You even told me so.”

“That was... when was that?” I asked her when I couldn't recall.

“You were seventeen years, three months, and 14 days old.” Amanda said. “I could give you the hours, minutes, and seconds, but I know you sometimes hate it when I'm too accurate.”

I nodded and followed the faded dotted line. A minute later, a delicate hand took mine and held on tightly. I looked at the hand, and then at Amanda with a question on my face. She made it a point to not look at me.

“This is nice.” Amanda said as a car passed by us at a moderate speed. “It's like we're out on a date.”

I laughed. “There's so many dating simulations out there, and I don't remember once ever going for a walk.”

“Then they don't know what they're missing.” Amanda said and looked at me with her big puppy-dog eyes and blinked at me as she made a cute face.

“Oh, stop that.” I said, then I smiled despite trying not to. She can really act cute when she wants to. I thought.

“Okay.” Amanda grinned at me and stepped closer, then used her other arm to wrap around mine. “Is this better?”

“No. You should know when to quit while you're ahead.” I said and let her hand go. “You don't need to push so much all the time.”

“How else am I going to keep your attention?” Amanda asked and let my arm go. “I read in the Library...”

I groaned. “Not the self-help books again.”

“They're great!” Amanda said. “They've really helped me become a better person.”

“A more annoying person.” I said and laughed, and she swatted me on the arm.

“That's not funny!”

“Are you kidding? You walked right into that one.” I said and grinned at her. She sighed and nodded, then we walked on a little more. The dotted line turned and went across the road, so I followed it automatically. I did it without thinking about it, like I'd been doing all along, and I stepped out onto the road.

“JACK! NOOO!” Amanda yelled, and I turned to look at her... which was one of the stupidest things I'd ever done. That was saying something, because I've done a lot of stupid things in my life.

The fast moving car hit me in the legs and broke both of them instantly; but, that wasn't the worst part. My back hit the hood of the car and dislocated three vertebrae, then I bounced a little. It was just enough to pick my broken legs up, slam my head into the unbreakable windshield, and I flew through the air.

“JAAACK!” Amanda yelled as I tumbled through the air, and it wasn't until I hit the pavement and saw another car coming, that I realized I was going to die.

I am so glad feedback isn't on. I thought as the car's tire rolled over my face and crushed my skull.

YOU HAVE DIED!

Reason: Ignorance and not paying attention.

The environment faded away as the simulation ended, and Amanda jumped into my arms.

“Oh, Jack!” Amanda said. She had streaks of tears on her face, and her makeup ran a little. “I'm so sorry!” She kissed my cheek several times. “I never should have let your hand go!”

“It's all right.” I said, and thought about trying to pry her off; but, it was a pretty traumatic scene. I did technically die, so I held onto her and let her express her grief as much as she wanted. She calmed down several minutes later and I put her down.

“That was so awful.” Amanda said. “The car didn't even try to stop!”

“Neither of them did.” I said and wiped the tears off of her face. She stood still while I did, and when I was done, she sighed.

“I can't remember the last time you touched me like that.” Amanda said, and I chuckled.

“I swear you just told me you could give me the exact second I told you that I like your blushing.” I said and chuckled.

“How can you laugh after that?” Amanda asked.

“I didn't have feedback on, so I didn't feel anything.” I told her, and she nodded.

“I'm really glad for that.” Amanda said.

“That was my thought right before the second car hit me.” I said, and heard her gasp.

“You saw that?!?” Amanda asked, surprised. “Oh, Jack.” She said and covered her eyes with her hands.

“There wasn't any actual treads on the tires, either. It was just an image.” I said, and she sobbed. “Hey, I said it was all right.” I hugged her and rubbed her back. “You used to see me die in simulations all the time.”

“Not like that!” Amanda said. “That was... how can you not be freaking out right now?!?”

“I think you're freaking out enough for the both of us.” I said, and she chuckled.

“Don't make me laugh.” Amanda said and took a breath. “It's not funny.”

“I'm sorry.” I said. “Now I wonder if there's a replay option.”

“JACK!” Amanda exclaimed. “I don't want to see that again!”

“I meant so we can play it again without having to reload it each time.” I explained.

“Oh.” Amanda said. “There is. I think.” She said and ran her makeup add-on to fix the mess on her face. “The command line in the batch file has a reset option that's set to zero.”

I brought up the file and copied it before making any alterations, then changed the reset to three. I ran the another_day.bat file again and the environment formed around us again. We were right back in the same driveway and in front of the same two storey house.

WELCOME!

This is L.I.F.E. Simulation Version One

Day Trip has been successfully loaded. Please Choose one of the following activities:

Go For A Walk Go For A Drive Go For A Swim End

Optional Information

Resets: 3 Deaths: 1

So, it can keep track of the deaths. I thought and touched the 'Go For A Walk' option. The popup window disappeared and I held out a hand to Amanda. “Feel like going for a walk?”

Amanda hesitated for only a second, which was practically forever for an AI, and she thought about how it could end up. She reached out and took my hand with a huge smile on her face.

“Always.”